fe^ 

B 


A  Pair  of  Originals 


A  STORY  BY  E.WARD 


5 


• 


ag| 


Acres  ofBooks 
140  Tacif  A» 
2 


f/p ' 

<^i^l__ 

w  ^\^- 


A  PAIR  OF  ORIGINALS 


ASKING  THE  WAY. 


Frontispiece. 


A  Pair  of  Originals 


A  STORY 


BY 

E.    WARD 

AUTHOR  OF  "  FRESH  FROM  THE  FHNS  1 


WITH  ILLUSTRATIONS 


All  rights  reserved 


COPYRIGHT,  1891, 

BY 
MACMILLAN  &  CO. 


ROBERT  DRUMMOND,  ELECTROTYPER  AND  PRINTER,  NEW  YORK. 


LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS. 


ASKING  THE  WAY, Frontispiece 

MAKING  TEA, 86 

CURLEY  AND  THE  COWS, IO8 

IN  THE  PADDOCK, 157 

PHYLLIS  AND  HER  PAGES, 198 

THE  OLD  QUARRY, 234 

FETCHING  THE  BABIES,    ...  ....  297 

HIDING  THE  BABIES, 307 


CHAPTER  I 

"  THE  fact  of  the  case  is,  I'm  about  tired  of  every- 
thing." 

The  author  of  this  comprehensive  statement  was 
a  small  boy  of  five  summers,  who  was  curled  up  on 
the  rug  by  the  nursery  fire,  looking  pretty  comfort- 
able notwithstanding  his  lofty  contempt  of  his  sur- 
roundings. His  companion  was  a  brother  two  years 
his  senior,  who  was  nursing  his  knees  in  an  old- 
fashioned  attitude,  his  small  and  rather  wizened  face 
turned  intently  towards  the  ruddy  blaze. 

"  Yes,  Curly,  that's  exactly  how  I  feel  sometimes. 
I'm  about  tired  of  everything.  I  suppose  we're 
what  the  girls  call  blast.  I  think  that  means  pretty 
much  what  we  feel  now." 

"  I  don't  know  about  that — I  don't  expect  we  feel 
much  like  the  girls,"  answered  the  younger  brother, 
with  masculine  contempt  for  the  "  inferior  sex." 
"  I'd  rather  be  us  than  the  girls  any  day  ;  but  I  do 
want  something  fresh  to  do." 

"  If  we  were  boys  in  books,  we  would   get  into 


2  A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

mischief,  and  make  a  jolly  big  row  about  something  ; 
but  I  don't  believe  any  one  here  would  care  if  we 
did.  And  there  doesn't  seem  anything  to  do." 

"  I  don't  much  believe  in  book-boys,"  remarked 
Curly,  whose  forte  appeared  to  be  a  general  con- 
tempt for  most  things.  "  Of  course  anyone  could 
make  anybody  do  anything  in  a  book  ;  but  it  doesn't 
prove  that  one  could  do  it  oneself." 

"  No,  that's  just  it — I  feel  like  that  myself,  some- 
times. Now  if  we  were  book-boys  we  should  find 
heaps  of  things  to  do,  and  we  should  be  awfully 
pleased  we  weren't  going  to  have  any  more  govern- 
ess till  after  the  summer  was  over.  I  did  think  it 
was  jolly  when  I  first  heard  about  it ;  but  I  declare 
I  should  sometimes  like  to  have  some  lessons  again, 
just  for  a  change." 

"  Oh,  well,  I  don't  think  I  care  about  lessons  so 
much ;  but  I  want  something  to  happen  different. 
I'm  sick  of  all  the  days  being  so  alike.  I  wish  we 
lived  in  the  country.  We  could  do  such  a  lot  of 
things  there." 

"  Ah,  yes,  wouldn't  that  be  jolly !  But  we  never 
do  go  till  August,  and  then  it's  generally  to  a  stupid, 
fashionable  place.  It's  fun  digging  in  the  sand  ;  but 
I  should  like  to  go  where  the  fields  are  all  green, 
and  the  birds  build  nests,  and  people  have  hay  and 
corn  to  get  in,  and  all  that  sort  of  thing.  When 
I'm  big,  I  think  I'll  be  a  farmer.  I'm  sure  I  won't 


A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  3 

be  a  soldier,  or  a  barrister,  or  a  clergyman,  or  any 
of  the  stupid  things  the  men  are  who  come  here  to 
talk  nonsense  to  the  girls  and  make  themselves 
ridiculous." 

Curly  looked  into  the  fire  and  gravely  nodded  his 
head. 

"  I'll  come  with  you,  and  we'll  have  a  farm  to- 
gether ;  but,  Bunny,  do  you  think  papa  will  let  us  ? 
Wasn't  it  because  Tor  went  to  Australia  to  be  a 
farmer  that  they  are  all  so  angry  with  him  ?  " 

Bunny's  shrewd  little  brown  face  was  screwed  up 
into  an  expression  of  profound  wisdom. 

"  I  don't  quite  know  why  it  is  that  they  are  all 
so  cross  to  Tor.  I  think  it's  because  he  failed  and 
had  to  come  home  again.  If  he  had  got  rich  and 
come  home  with  a  big  fortune,  I  don't  expect  they'd 
have  minded  half  as  much." 

"/  like  Tor  the  best  of  them  all,"  remarked 
Curly,  with  an  air  of  decision.  "  I  wonder  if  he 
seems  nicer  because  we  can't  remember  him  be- 
fore he  went  away." 

"  I  can — just  a  very  little,"  said  Bunny.  "  At 
least  I  can  remember  a  little  bit  about  the  fuss 
there  was,  and  how  angry  everybody  was;  but  I 
was  too  little  to  understand  what  it  was  all  about, 
and  you  weren't  much  more  than  a  baby." 

"  Well,  /  don't  believe  Tor  ever  did  anything 
very  naughty.  I  think  it's  a  great  shame  how  they 


4  A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

all  go  on  at  him.  I  say,  Bunny,  we'll  go  and  sit  in 
his  room  when  they've  all  gone  down  to  dinner." 

"  Perhaps  he'll  go  down  too — he  does  sometimes." 

"  He  won't  to-night,  'cause  the  girls  are  having  a 
lot  of  people.  Cook  told  me  so  her  own  self.  Tor 
never  goes  down  when  they  have  a  party — he  is 
much  too  sensible.  He  doesn't  care  about  the 
silly  people  the  girls  like  to  have  dangling  about." 

"  I  wish  he'd  have  a  house  of  his  own,  or  a  farm, 
and  let  us  live  with  him.  We're  rather  alike  in 
some  ways,  I  think ;  nobody  seems  to  want  us,  or 
care  for  us." 

"  Yes,"  answered  Curly,  "  I  suppose  it  is  just 
about  that.  I  wish  Tor  would  take  us  away,  and 
we  would  have  a  nice  home  of  our  own  somewhere 
else,  with  no  girls  ever  bothering  round.  I  should 
like  that.  Suppose  we  ask  Tor  about  it  to-night. 
He  might  like  it,  too.  I  should  think  he  would," 

Bunny  shook  his  wise  little  head,  as  if  he  thought 
it  doubtful  whether  Tor  would  rise  to  any  such 
suggestion,  but  at  least  there  could  be  no  harm 
in  trying,  and  it  was  something  to  think  about 
meantime. 

And  how  came  it  that  these  two  little  boys,  sur- 
rounded as  they  were  by  the  luxuries  of  a  hand- 
some London  house,  and  with  a  wealthy  father 
living  beneath  the  same  roof,  should  have  already 
got  it  into  their  heads  that  there  was  no  place  for 


A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  5 

them  there,  and  that  it  would  be  a  good  thing  to 
go  elsewhere,  rather  than  stay  on,  where,  as  they 
pathetically  put  it,  "  nobody  cared  for  them  "  ? 

Well,  the  facts  of  the  case  were  these :  Sir  Ron- 
ald Chesterton  was  a  wealthy  baronet,  who  had 
been  twice  married.  When  very  young  he  had, 
against  the  wishes  of  his  mother,  wooed  and  won 
a  very  lovely  girl  with  a  fortune  of  her  own,  but 
also  with  the  extravagant  tastes  that  often  accom- 
pany the  possession  of  wealth ;  and  they  had  led 
a  very  gay  life  throughout  the  years  that  she  lived, 
bringing  up  their  large  and  handsome  family  in  a 
way  that  was  very  pleasant  to  those  concerned, 
though  hardly  a  guarantee  for  the  future,  as  they 
contracted  expensive,  careless  habits  and  knew 
nothing  of  judicious  control.  And  even  the  father 
began  to  find  out  that  there  was  something  amiss 
in  his  code  of  government,  for  after  the  death  of  his 
first  wife  he  married  after  a  short  interval  (to  the 
great  disgust  of  his  family)  the  governess  who  had 
been  engaged  to  train  up  his  handsome  daughters, 
and  who  had  found  the  task  by  no  means  an  easy 
one. 

The  lot  of  the  second  Lady  Chesterton  had  been 
no  bed  of  roses.  If  she  had  had  trouble  with  the 
great  girls  and  boys  whilst  she  had  them  in  the 
school-room  only,  she  found  it  ten  times  more 
difficult  to  manage  them  when  she  was  in  the  place 


6  A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

of  step-mother;  and  indeed  the  life  she  led  was 
such  a  hard  and  anxious  one,  that  when  her  second 
little  boy  was  born  she  slipped  quietly  away  from 
life  and  its  cares,  leaving  her  husband  a  widower 
for  the  second  time,  with  two  young  children  in 
addition  to  the  large  family  he  had  found  such  a 
care  before. 

But  it  was  useless  to  complain;  and  indeed  his 
daughters  soon  assured  him  that  he  need  have  no 
anxiety  on  their  account,  as  they  were  well  qualified 
to  take  care  both  of  the  household  and  of  them- 
selves. There  were  five  of  them — the  youngest  of 
whom  had  just  come  out,  though  not  quite  seven- 
teen, her  sisters  finding  it  impossible  to  keep  her 
in  obscurity  any  longer,  and  not  much  desiring  it 
either,  for  they  were  all  on  very  good  terms  together. 
So  that  the  father  found  his  household  ruled  and 
regulated  in  a  way  that  it  seemed  useless  to  resist, 
though  he  felt  his  friends  pitied  him  for  having  five 
mistresses  instead  of  one,  and  wondered  that  he 
did  not  obtain  the  services  of  some  relative  or 
chaperon,  to  keep  an  eye  on  the  vagaries  of  these 
handsome,  high-spirited,  self-willed  daughters  of  his. 
His  sons  were  afloat  in  the  world — one  in  the  army, 
another  in  the  diplomatic  service,  and  another  at 
the  bar.  But  notwithstanding  their  avocations,  they 
contrived  to  be  much  at  home,  and  the  house  was 
quite  a  centre  for  gaieties  of  all  kinds,  carried  on  by 


A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  7 

the  young  people  with  small  regard  for  the  father, 
whose  Parliamentary  duties  left  him  but  little  time 
to  spare  for  the  regulation  of  his  household. 

With  a  household  so  constituted,  it  may  well  be 
understood  that  the  position  of  the  two  little  chil- 
dren shut  up  in  the  far-away  nursery  was  somewhat 
isolated  and  dreary.  The  sisters  considered  them 
as  a  needless  encumbrance,  and  a  reminder  of  an 
episode  in  their  father's  history  which  they  would 
have  preferred  to  forget.  The  big  brothers  hardly 
saw  them  from  one  week's  end  to  another ;  even  the 
father  often  passed  several  days  without  contriving 
a  visit  to  the  nursery ;  and  now  the  governess  had 
deserted  them,  for  she  had  fallen  ill  of  typhoid 
fever,  which  would  of  necessity  keep  her  from  her 
post  for  at  least  three  months;  and  so  the  good- 
natured  sisters,  who  wished  to  be  kind  to  her,  and 
to  rid  themselves  at  the  same  time  of  the  "  nuisance 
of  having  a  governess  at  the  luncheon-table  every 
day,"  had  decreed  that  the  children  should  do  with- 
out any  regular  teaching  till  after  the  summer  holi- 
days, and  that  the  governess  should  have  her  salary 
just  the  same. 

"  For  she  will  want  it  more  than  ever,  poor  thing, 
if  she  is  ill,"  said  Miss  Chesterton.  "  But  we  could 
not  pay  it  twice  over ;  it  would  throw  the  accounts 
all  wrong.  She  shall  have  it,  and  we  will  let  the 
children  have  a  holiday.  I  am  sure  it  will  do  them 


8  A    PA  IP   OF  ORIGINALS 

no  harm.  They  can  work  all  the  harder  by  and  by 
to  make  up  for  it." 

"Yes,"  was  the  eager  reply  of  Georgina — or 
Georgy,  as  she  was  invariably  called — "  and  we  cer- 
tainly don't  want  to  bother  papa  about  another 
governess,  just  when  he  is  so  much  worried  over 
Tor.  I'm  sure  we  ought  to  do  everything  we  can 
to  keep  him  from  anything  that  can  vex  or  harass 
him  in  any  way." 

And  so  it  came  about  that  on  this  chilly  April 
evening  the  two  little  brothers  had  arrived  at  the 
conclusion  that  they  had  got  to  the  end  of  every- 
thing, and  were  beginning  to  wish  even  for  a  gov- 
erness by  way  of  varying  the  monotony  of  their 
nursery  lives. 

Yet  they  were  an  original  pair  of  children,  and 

would  have  attracted  notice  and  admiration  in  some 

* 

homes — Bunny  for  his  shrewd,  old-fashioned  remarks 
and  the  acuteness  of  his  observation,  and  Curly  on 
account  of  his  great  beauty  and  remarkable  forward- 
ness. Curly  was  indeed  a  very  handsome  boy.  He 
was  quite  as  tall  and  a  good  deal  stronger  than  his  el- 
der brother,  though  his  strength  was  not  quite  under 
his  own  control  yet,  and  a  certain  amount  of  laziness 
seemed  to  go  with  his  rapid  growth  and  develop- 
ment. He  had  the  loveliest  golden  Hair,  which  was 
not  cut  short  like  his  brother's,  but  hung  in  natural 
curls  round  his  handsome  little  face,  just  touching 


A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  9 

his  shoulders.  It  was  his  hair  that  had  won  for  him 
the  nickname  by  which  he  was  universally  known, 
though  he  had  been  christened  Stuart;  whilst  Bunny, 
whose  baptismal  name  was  Francis,  had  been  so 
called  because  he  was  so  small  and  brown  and  light 
that  his  mother  had  likened  him  to  a  rabbit,  and  the 
cognomen  had  stuck  to  him. 

Bunny  suddenly  lifted  his  head  with  a  listening  air. 

"  They're  going  down  to  dinner,  Curly ;  let's  go 
and  watch  them." 

Hand  in  hand  the  two  little  brothers  slipped  from 
the  room,  and  ran  softly  down  the  uncarpeted  stairs 
that  led  to  their  own  special  domain.  They  did  not 
often  penetrate  lower  into  the  house  by  the  front 
staircase,  for  if  they  chanced  to  meet  one  of  "  the 
girls "  on  the  way,  they  would  be  certain  to  be 
turned  back  with  a  sharp  rebuke,  and  bidden  to  keep 
to  their  own  quarters.  But  on  party  nights  there 
was  no  such  danger  to  be  apprehended,  and  the 
little  boys  had  a  corner  of  their  own,  which  com- 
manded an  excellent  view  of  the  stream  of  guests 
as  they  descended  to  the  dining-roo^f  on  dinner- 
party nights.  This  sight  had  for  them — as  for 
most  children — a  great  fascination,  and  they  looked 
eagerly  downwards  to  see  the  gay  couples  go  by. 
Dinner-parties  in  a  house  that  numbered  five  girls 
and  one  or  two  sons  practically  at  home  had  to  be 
on  a  rather  large  scale,  and  it  was  very  amusing 


10  A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

watching  the  company  file  in,  and  passing  comments 
all  the  time. 

"  I  say,  Ethel  has  got  a  new  dress,  a  regular 
stunner;  and  Carry  is  making  such  eyes  at  the  fellow 
she  is  talking  to.  He  looks  like  a  lamp-post  with 
arms  and  legs  stuck  on.  Look  at  Madge :  doesn't 
she  laugh  loud?  I  expect  Miss  will  scold  her  for 
that  by  and  by.  She  will  tell  her  people  will  think 
her  a  tomboy." 

"  Miss,"  pure  and  simple,  was  a  sort  of  nickname 
the  little  boys  had  adopted  to  designate  their  eldest 
half-sister,  the  dignified  Miss  Chesterton,  who  held 
herself  a  good  many  degrees  higher  than  her  sisters, 
and  made  the  most  of  her  position  as  head  of  her 
father's  house. 

Curly's  eyes  were  eagerly  fixed  on  the  descend- 
ing crowd. 

"  Tor  isn't  there,"  he  said,  hardly  heeding  Bunny's 
remarks  and  criticisms,  which  continued  to  flow 
forth  uninterruptedly;  "I  didn't  think  he'd  go 
down.  Now  we  could  go  and  see  him,  and  ask  him 
about  the  farm.  I  wonder  if  they'll  send  him  any 
dinner.  We  might  make  raids,  and  have  fun,  if 
only  he's  in  a  nice  mood." 

"  If  he  has  a  headache,  as  he  mostly  has,  he  won't 
care  to  be  bothered  with  us,"  rejoined  Bunny. 
"  But  we  can  go  and  see,  if  you  like.  It  would  be 
something  to  do." 


A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  II 

The  dinner  company  had  now  passed  out  of  sight, 
and  a  great  clattering  and  chattering  was  all  that 
could  be  heard  from  below. 

"  Talk  about  children  making  a  noise,"  remarked 
Bunny,  contemptuously.  "  Why,  just  listen  to  the 
row  grown-ups  kick  up  the  moment  they  begin  to 
feed.  It's  like  the  animals  at  the  Zoo.  If  we 
made  half  such  a  racket,  the  girls  would  make  a 
regular  shine  about  it.  They  are  silly,  conceited 
things.  They  think  everything  they  do  is  right, 
and  everything  anybody  else  does  wrong." 

"  I  suppose  that's  the  way  girls  are  made,"  was 
Curly's  philosophical  answer.  "  Perhaps  they  can't 
help  it,  poor  things." 

"  Well,  perhaps  not.  I  wouldn't  be  a  girl  for 
something.  Now  let's  go  to  Tor." 

So  the  little  brothers  rose  from  their  stooping 
position  and  remounted  some  of  the  stairs,  turning 
down  a  passage  at  the  top,  and  walking  along  a 
matted  corridor  till  they  reached  a  door  at  the  end, 
at  which  Curly  boldly  knocked.  He  had  to  knock 
twice  before  he  got  any  answer,  and  then  it  came 
rather  as  a  growl  than  an  articulate  speech ;  but 
they  took  it  as  a  permission,  and  went  in  together. 

They  found  themselves  in  a  good-sized  room, 
with  a  smaller  dressing-closet  beyond,  through  the 
open  door  of  which  glimpses  could  be  obtained  of  a 
narrow  camp-bed  and  a  small  washing-stand.  The 


12  A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

bigger  room  had  more  the  air  of  a  parlour  than  a 
bedroom,  and  there  was  a  bright  fire  burning  there, 
though  except  for  that  the  place  was  quite  dark, 
the  curtains  drawn  so  as  to  exclude  the  waning  day- 
light, whilst  the  gas  had  not  been  lighted,  nor  even 
a  candle. 

On  a  couch  drawn  up  to  the  fire  in  such  a  way  as 
to  leave  his  face  in  deep  shadow  was  stretched  the 
tall  figure  of  a  man.  The  length  of  limb  and  great 
breadth  of  shoulder  seemed  to  indicate  unusual 
physical  power  and  strength,  whilst  the  languor  of 
the  posture  and  the  darkness  and  silence  of  the 
room  seemed  to  negative  this  supposition  and  sug- 
gest the  idea  of  ill-health  and  sickness. 

The  little  boys,  however,  appeared  quite  used 
to  this  aspect  of  the  case,  and  made  no  comment  as 
they  advanced  into  the  circle  of  the  ruddy  firelight. 

"  They're  having  one  of  their  stupid  old  dinner- 
parties downstairs  to-night,"  remarked  Curly  by 
way  of  prelude.  "  We  thought  you'd  be  all  alone, 
as  you  hadn't  gone  down  ;  so  we  came  to  see  you. 
We  thought  perhaps  you'd  be  lonely.  Besides,  we 
wanted  to  talk  to  you  out  of  our  own  heads." 

"  Well,  so  long  as  you  talk  out  of  any  head  but 
mine,  I  don't  object  particularly." 

This  answer  came  in  low,  languid  tones,  as  if  the 
speaker  was  either  too  tired  or  too  indifferent  to 
raise  any  protest  against  this  intrusion.  So  the 


A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  13 

children  squatted  down  on  the  rug  and  prepared 
for  a  sociable  discussion. 

"  We're  so  tired  of  everything,  Tor,"  began  Curly, 
who  was  very  full  of  his  grievance.  "  There  isn't 
anything  left  to  do  that  we've  not  done  heaps  and 
heaps  of  times  before,  and  nobody  wants  us,  and 
we  don't  want  nobody  either." 

"  Ah,  we're  pretty  much  in  the  same  boat,  you 
and  I,"  answered  the  young  man,  in  his  deliberate 
way.  "  We're  all  rather  superfluous  articles  in  this 
house,  it  seems ;  only  unluckily  there  does  not  seem 
any  way  of  escape  just  at  present." 

"  I  think  I  could  escape  if  I  tried,"  remarked 
Curly.  "  We  haven't  got  any  governess  now,  so  we 
can  do  as  we  like  all  day ;  only  there  isn't  anywhere 
to  escape  to — unless  you  would  buy  a  farm  and  let 
us  live  with  you.  I  think  we  should  be  very  useful. 
.Boys  can  be,  you  know,  because  of  the  Swiss  Family 
Robinson.  Those  boys  did  lots  of  things." 

"  We  were  wondering  if  you  would  have  a  farm 
in  England  now  that  you've  come  back  from  Aus- 
tralia," responded  Bunny,  as  if  in  answer  to  an  inter- 
rogatory sound  from  Tor.  "  Curly  and  I  are  so 
tired  of  living  in  London.  We  thought  it  would  be 
so  nice  if  we  could  get  away  somewhere  with  you 
and  have  a  nice  place  of  our  own.  I  think  we 
should  make  it  pay,"  he  concluded,  shaking  his  head 
wisely.  "  You  see,  you  have  had  experience,  and  I 


14  A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

feel  sure  I  should  take  to  it.  I  have  always  wanted 
to  be  cast  on  a  desert  island,  and  one  would  have  to 
be  a  sort  of  farmer  there.  I  should  quite  like  to 
dress  in  sheepskins,  and  then  one  would  have  no 
clothes  to  buy." 

"  And  we  should  grow  our  own  corn  and  have  our 
own  animals  to  eat,  so  there  wouldn't  be  anything 
at  all  to  buy.  If  we  had  a  farm,  Tor,  I  believe  we 
could  live  on  nothing — " 

"And  make  our  fortunes,  too.  Oh,  Tor,  don't 
you  think  we  might  try?  I'm  sure  you  must  be 
sick  of  London  and  the  shindies  the  girls  are  always 
kicking  up." 

There  was  no  direct  answer,  only  a  sound  be- 
tween a  laugh  and  a  groan.  Bunny,  whose  eyes 
were  growing  used  to  the  darkness,  looked  into  his 
brother's  face,  and  remarked  in  his  shrewd  way, 

"  I  don't  think  your  head  would  ache  so  much 
out  in  the  country.  Is  it  very  bad  to-night  ?  " 

"  No,  not  worse  than  usual.  It  never  will  be 
right  in  this  detestable  place,  where  there  is  noth- 
ing but  racket  from  morning  to  night." 

"  Then  why  don't  you  go  away  somewhere  else  ?  " 

"  It  takes  money  to  do  that,  young  'un,  and  I 
haven't  got  any." 

"  Why  don't  you  ask  papa  ?  " 

"  Because  he  is  angry  enough  with  me  as  it  is, 
without  giving  him  extra  bother  ;  and  when  a  fellow 


A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  15 

is  in  dire  disgrace,  he  is  not  supposed  to  want 
favours,  or  to  have  the  impudence  to  make  requests 
of  any  kind." 

"  Why  are  you  in  disgrace  ?  "  asked  Curly.  "  Is 
it  because  you  went  to  Australia  to  be  a  farmer?" 

"  First  because  I  went,  and  now  because  I  have 
come  home  again.  It's  hard  to  please  everybody, 
isn't  it,  Curly  ?  " 

"  I  suppose  if  you'd  come  home  rich  they 
wouldn't  have  minded  so  much?"  questioned  Bunny, 
sagely.  "  If  you  had  come  back  with  a  big  fortune 
and  lots  of  diamonds,  the  girls  would  have  made  a 
great  fuss  of  you,  and  nobody  would  have  been 
cross.  It  does  seem  a  pity  you  couldn't  do  that, 
Tor." 

"  Instead  of  losing  all  I  had  given  me,  and  bring- 
ing home  nothing  but  myself  and  a  sun-stroke.  Well- 
it  would  have  been  a  superior  arrangement,  cer- 
tainly ;  only,  you  see,  luck  didn't  fall  in  my  way." 

"  I  can't  think,  all  the  same,  why  you  came  home," 
remarked  Bunny.  "  I  wouldn't  have  done  it  if  I'd 
been  out  there." 

"  I  had  no  choice,  you  see.  They  shipped  me  off 
when  I  knew  nothing  about  it,  and  wired  over  that 
I  was  coming ;  and  when  I  got  ashore,  there  was  my 
aggrieved  parent,  ready  to  take  possession  of  me. 
And  here  I  am,  a  useless  fixture,  too  old  to  enter  any 
respectable  service,  and  with  no  head  to  take  to  any 


i6  A  PAIR  OF  ORIGINALS 

gentlemanly  profession.  It's  no  wonder  they  are 
disgusted  with  me.  I  must  be  a  horrid  incubus." 

Curly's  eyes  opened  wide  with  admiration  and 
envy. 

"Are  you?"  he  asked  with  an  access  of  respect. 
"  How  nice  that  must  be !  I  wish  I  was  one  too. 
We're  nothing  but  a  plague — at  least  the  girls  say 
so." 

"  The  girls  tell  us  a  good  many  home-truths, 
don't  they  ?  But  it  is  a  shame  to  fall  foul  of  you 
two  little  chaps.  You  have  never  given  them  cause 
to  abuse  you.  You  have  never  done  any  harm." 

"  Oh  yes,  but  we  have,"  answered  Curly,  with  a 
certain  amount  of  complacency.  "  We  hid  away  all 
their  best  hats  one  day,  when  they  were  going  to  an 
awfully  swell  party,  and  there  was  no  end  of  a  rum- 
pus about  it,  I  can  tell  you  ;  but  it  was  jolly  fun  all 
the  same.  And  once  we  dressed  up  their  pug-dogs 
in  their  bracelets  and  necklaces,  and  turned  them 
into  the  drawing-room  when  they  were  having  a  lot 
of  fellows  to  tea ;  but  they  weren't  as  cross  as  we 
expected  about  that,  till  they  found  one  pearl  had 
been  lost.  And  once  " — here  Curly  lowered  his  voice 
to  a  whisper,  a  look  of  awe  creeping  over  his  face — 
"  once,  after  we  had  seen  the  gas-men  doing  some- 
thing to  the  meter,  we  got  the  key,  and  Bunny 
turned  it  off  at  the  main  in  the  middle  of  a  dinner- 
party. But  papa  was  there  then,  and  he  was  very 


A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  I? 

angry,  and  he  whipped  us  both,  so  we  never  did  it 
again." 

Tor  laughed  at  this  recital  of  childish  misdemean- 
ours. The  little  boys  liked  telling  things  to  Tor, 
because  he  never  scolded  or  tried  to  point  a  moral 
like  the  governess  or  "  Miss,"  neither  did  he  seem 
bored  by  their  conversation  as  the  other  brothers 
and  the  sisters  were. 

"  But  you  see,  even  if  we  do  funny  things  some- 
times, it  isn't  like  having  a  settled  occupation,"  said 
Bunny.  "  Now  if  you  had  that  farm  of  yours,  we 
should  always  have  plenty  to  do — and  it  would  be 
so  nice  to  get  out  of  this  horrid  old  London." 

"  Well,  if  your  hearts  are  so  set  on  that,  why 
don't  you  go  and  pay  a  visit  to  our  respected  grand- 
mother ?  She  has  a  farm,  and  she  lives  in  the 
country,  and  for  aught  I  know  she  might  like  to  see 
you.  Have  you  never  been  there  yet?  I  went 
once  when  I  was  a  small  boy,  and  very  much  I  liked 
it.  I  hit  it  off  very  well,  too,  with  the  old  lady ; 
but  none  of  the  others  ever  cared  to  go  near  her." 

Bunny  and  Curly  exchanged  glances.  This  was 
certainly  quite  a  new  idea,  and  not  an  unattractive 
one  on  the  whole. 

"  I  never  thought  of  that.  I've  heard  the  girls 
say  they  will  never  go  there  again,  it  is  so  dull  and 
stupid.  Is  she  our  grandmother  too  ?  She  hasn't 
ever  asked  us  to  go  and  see  her,  I  don't  think." 


1 8  A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

"  That  is  hardly  her  way.  She  is  not  like  the 
fond  grandmothers  of  fiction,"  answered  Tor,  lazily. 
"  She  is  an  old  lady  of  great  character,  and  she  is  so 
unreserved  in  the  expression  of  her  opinions  that 
she  generally  manages  to  quarrel  with  most  people, 
or  at  least  to  offend  them  mortally  in  some  way  or 
another.  That  is  why  there  is  so  little  interchange 
of  civility  between  our  houses.  She  disapproved  of 
my  mother  because  she  was  too  go-ahead,  and  of 
yours  because  she  was  too  stay-at-home.  And  she 
never  was  known  to  ask  any  of  us  to  her  house.  I 
was  sent  because  the  rest  were  ill  one  year,  and  I 
thought,  as  we  were  such  good  friends,  that  she 
would  ask  me  again  some  day ;  but  she  never  did. 
If  the  girls  go,  it  is  because  they  are  sent,  out  of 
motives  of  policy  or  propriety,  and  she  never  de- 
clines to  receive  her  son's  children,  and  she  is  hos- 
pitable in  her  way.  But  if  you  want  to  go,  you 
must  just  take  the  bull  by  the  horns  ;  for  you  will 
never  get  an  invitation." 

Both  children  were  staring  intently  at  the  speaker. 
They  were  so  much  taken  by  this  new  idea  that 
they  could  think  of  nothing  else. 

"  Do  you  mean  that  we  must  go  without  telling 
her ?  But  won't  she  be  angry? " 

"And  perhaps  the  girls  won't  let  us  go,"  sug- 
gested Bunny.  "  I'm  as  sure  as  I  can  be  that  Miss 
would  just  say  '  No  '  straight  down,  and  there  would 


A    PA  IK   OF  ORIGINALS  19 

be  the  end  of  it.  Oh,  Tor,  what  shall  we  do  ?  It 
would  be  so  nice.  Can't  you  advise  us  ?  " 

"  Suppose  you  just  cut  and  run,"  was  the  laconic 
answer. 

"  What  do  you  mean  ?  " 

"  Why,  just  put  on  your  best  clothes,  and  make 
up  a  bundle  big  enough  to  carry  you  over  the  first 
night,  and  cut  away  to  the  train — I'll  pay  your  fares 
and  set  you  in  the  way  of  getting  there  safely — and 
just  turn  up  at  the  old  lady's  and  say  you've  come 
to  stop,  because  you've  got  no  governess,  and  hate 
being  in  London,  and  think  it  high  time  you  should 
make  her  acquaintance.  If  she  keeps  you,  well  and 
good  ;  your  other  things  can  be  sent  after  you,  all 
in  due  time.  If  she  doesn't,  you  will  have  had  the 
fun  'of  running  away,  and  I'll  tell  them  I  put  you  up 
to  it." 

The  children's  eyes  were  glistening  brightly. 

"  Oh,  Tor,  what  a  lovely  idea !  But  won't  you 
come  too  ?  " 

Tor  shook  his  head. 

"  But  wouldn't  you  like  to  ?  Wouldn't  you  like 
to  get  out  of  all  the  noise  and  racket,  and  have  a 
nice  time  in  the  country  ?  Oh,  do  come.  It  would 
be  so  much  nicer  if  you  did.  Are  you  quite  sure 
you  don't  want  to?" 

"  No,  but  I'm  quite  sure  that  I  can't.  I'm  too 
old  to  take  French  leave  like  a  youngster,  especially 


20  A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

when  I  am  in  disgrace,  and  should  be  a  nuisance  in 
any  house  I  stayed  in.  No,  no ;  I'll  put  you  up  to 
getting  there,  and  keep  them  quiet  at  this  end — 
though  I  don't  know  if  they  would  care  much  if  the 
whole  three  of  us  were  hopelessly  lost — and  you 
must  do  what  you  can  with  the  old  lady ;  and  if  you 
chance  to  play  your  cards  well,  you  may  have  a  very 
good  time  of  it,  perhaps,  unless  she's  changed  from 
when  I  knew  her.  But  whatever  you  do,  don't  be 
afraid  of  her,  not  even  when  she  snaps  your  head  off. 
If  you  are,  she  will  never  care  for  you  a  straw ;  but 
if  you  hold  your  own,  the  chances  are  she  will  like 
you,  and  make  you  welcome  to  stay." 

The  two  boys  listened  to  these  instructions  with 
the  most  minute  attention. 

"  I  don't  feel  afraid  now,"  said  Curly,  reflectively. 
"  Shall  I  take  my  gun  and  shoot  her  ?  " 

"  It  isn't  a  gun,  it's  only  a  pea-shooter,"  returned 
Bunny,  "  and  it  would  be  rude  to  shoot  at  an  old 
lady.  Though  you  can  take  it  if  you  like.  It  might 
come  in  useful  for  other  things." 

And  the  child's  face  beamed  silently  at  the 
thought  of  what  he  might  accomplish  when  once  he 
found  himself  in  the  enchanted  land  of  the  real 
country.  Why  had  they  never  thought  of  paying 
grandmother  a  visit  before  ? 

"  When  may  we  go  ? "  asked  Curly,  and  both 
pairs  of  eyes  were  turned  eagerly  upon  Tor,  who 


A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  21 

seemed  to  hold   the  fate  of  the  expedition  in  his 
hands. 

"  As  soon  as  you  like,  I  suppose,"  he  answered 
negligently. 

"  To-morrow  ?  "  questioned  Bunny  with  breathless 
eagerness. 

"  I  suppose  to-morrow  would  do  as  well  as  any 
other  day,  if  it  is  to  be  a  surprise." 

"  Oh,  how  nice  you  are  !  The  girls  always  make  us 
wait  ages  and  ages  for  anything,  and  we  do  so  hate 
waiting.  Can  we  really  go  to-morrow  ?  And  when 
may  we  start  ?  " 

"  I  should  take  an  afternoon  train,  directly  after 
dinner ;  then  you  won't  be  missed  for  a  long  time. 
It's  not  far  by  rail — only  about  an  hour.  You'll  get 
there  in  time  for  tea.  I  will  tell  you  about  the  rail 
and  you  can  walk  to  the  house.  It's  only  a  mile 
and  a  quarter." 

"  Are  you  sure  you  can  afford  to  pay  for  our 
tickets  ?  Because  we  have  half-a-crown  between  us, 
and  I  thought  you  had  no  money." 

"  Not  enough  to  buy  a  farm,  but  enough  to  take 
you  to  Lady  Chesterton's.  And  now  be  off,  for  I 
don't  want  to  be  bothered  with  you  any  more.  You 
can  come  again  in  the  morning,  and  I  will  tell  you 
all  you  want  to  know." 


CHAPTER  II 

"OH  I  say,  Bunny,  isn't  this  jolly?  Fancy  if  we 
could  have  seen  ourselves  yesterday  !  Shouldn't  we 
have  stared  ?  " 

"  Shouldn't  we,  just  ?  I  do  like  going  in  a  train. 
I  wish  we  didn't  have  to  get  out  so  soon.  I'd  like 
to  go  on  all  day." 

"  Suppose  we  don't  get  out — suppose  we  go  on 
just  as  far  as  ever  it  goes.  P'raps  we  should  get  to 
the  end  of  the  world  by-and-by.  Then  they'd  never 
find  us,  and  we  should  never  have  to  go  home  any 
more." 

But  Bunny  shook  his  head. 

"  No,  it  wouldn't  be  like  that.  The  train  would 
have  to  stop  when  it  got  to  the  sea,  and  they'd  find 
out  we'd  come  too  far,  and  send  us  back,  and  p'raps 
they'd  make  us  pay  a  lot  of  money  too.  So  we'd 
better  do  just  as  Tor  told  us  to.  Besides,  I  expect 
the  guard  will  fetch  us  out  at  the  right  station.  I 
saw  Tor  tipping  him." 

"  What's  that  ?  "  asked  Curly  with  interest. 

"  Oh,   something    that    gentlemen    do    to    make 


A   PAIR    OF  ORIGINALS  23 

people  in  a  good  temper,"  was  Bunny's  rather  vague 
answer.  "  I've  heard  them  say  that  porters  and 
people  will  always  do  anything  if  only  you  tip  them 
well." 

"  It  was  nice  of  Tor  to  take  us  to  the  station, 
and  put  us  into  this  jolly  carriage  all  by  ourselves. 
None  of  the  others  would  have  done  it.  He's  much 
the  best  of  the  whole  boiling." 

"  Of  course  he  is.  I  can't  think  why  they're  all 
so  cross  to  him.  I  shall  tell  grandmother  about 
him.  I  wish  she'd  tell  him  to  come  and  see  her. 
I  believe  he'd  come — and  it  would  be  so  jolly  if  he 
did.  We  could  have  such  fun  together." 

"  So  we  could,  if  his  head  didn't  always  ache." 

"  Oh,  it  wouldn't  ache  in  the  country.  It's  only 
because  there  is  always  such  a  row  in  London,  and 
the  girls  are  always  having  rackets  all  over  the 
house.  I'm  sure  he'd  like  to  come.  If  grandmother 
is  a  bit  nice,  I'll  tell  her  so." 

"  I  wonder  what  she'll  be  like,"  remarked  Curly, 
reflectively.  "  I  think  I  shall  call  her  Granny — it 
sounds  more  sociable,  I  think." 

"  Well,  perhaps  it  does,  if  it  doesn't  make  her 
cross ;  but  I  fancy  she  is  rather  cross,  by  what  Tor 
said." 

"  Yes,  I  dare  say  she  is.  I  expect  she  stands  at 
the  door  of  the  farm,  and  bawls  to  the  people  what 
they're  to  do.  I  expect  she  wears  a  purple  print 


24  A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

dress  with  white  spots  on  it,  and  a  big  apron,  and 
her  sleeves  all  rolled  up,  and  perhaps  she  has  a  black 
bonnet  on  her  head,  like  the  farmer's  wife  in  '  Three 
Blind  Mice.' " 

Bunny's  small  brown  face  put  on  an  expression 
of  doubt  and  perplexity. 

"Do  you  think  she'll  be  like  that,  Curly?  You 
know  she's  called  Lady  Chesterton,  and  she's  papa's 
mother." 

"  I  don't  care  what  she's  called  nor  what  she  is," 
was  the  sturdy  answer.  "  Tor  said  she  had  a  farm, 
and  he's  been  there  to  see.  And  of  course  farmers' 
wives  always  do  that  sort  of  thing;  and  if  she  hasn't 
a  husband-farmer  she'll  do  it  all  the  more.  I  expect 
she  will  wear  big  boots  all  covered  with  mud,  and 
carry  a  big  whip  to  drive  the  cows  and  the  pigs. 
I'll  go  with  her  and  help  her.  I'll  carry  the  whip 
for  her  if  she  likes." 

Bunny  was  silent.  Evidently  his  small  brother 
had  pictured  a  very  different  sort  of  place  from 
what  he  had  fancied  their  grandmother's  house 
would  be ;  but  then  sometimes  Curly  made  very 
happy  guesses,  and  he  might  prove  right  after  all. 
It  was  difficult  to  imagine  that  the  girls  would  ever 
condescend  to  visit  at  a  real  farm-house,  presided 
over  by  a  mistress  in  a  cotton  gown  and  big  boots ; 
but  then  it  was  equally  true  that  the  girls  never 
went  willingly,  but  only  if  their  father  sent  them, 


A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  25 

and  that  they  always  came  back  very  quickly, 
grumbling  at  the  dulness  of  everything,  and  plainly 
in  a  bad  temper  with  the  grandmother.  So  there 
was  no  knowing  what  might  be  in  store  for  them, 
and  Curly  might  turn  out  to  be  right  after  all. 

"  Ladywell  Priory — that's  what  it's  called,"  he 
said,  referring  to  the  paper  in  his  hand.  "  I  don't 
think  that  sounds  very  much  like  a  farm." 

"  Tor  said  it  was  a  farm,  and  he  knows.  Oh,  I 
dare  say  some  old  monks  lived  there  once,  and 
then  by-and-by  that  horrid  old  Cromwell  came  and 
turned  them  all  out,  and  put  pigs  and  cows  and 
things  to  live  there  instead."  Curly's  views  about 
history  were  a  little  vague,  but  he  had  a  distinct  im- 
pression that  something  of  this  kind  had  happened 
at  some  period.  "  Of  course  after  that  it  would 
very  likely  get  made  into  a  farm.  I  hope  it  will 
look  romantic.  I  wonder  if  there  will  be  the  ghost 
of  an  old  monk  walking  about  anywhere.  I  wonder 
if  we  should  be  frightened  of  him  if  there  was." 

"  I  think  ghosts  have  gone  out  of  fashion  now," 
answered  Bunny  ;  "  I  don't  think  they  come  except 
in  books.  And  I  don't  much  fancy  anything  can 
be  romantic  now.  I  think  things  stopped  being 
romantic  about  a  hundred  years  ago,  when  all  the 
Stuarts  were  killed  or  went  away.  I'm  not  quite 
sure,  but  I  think  it  was  about  then.  You  know  the 
Georges  couldrit  be  romantic,  could  they?" 


26  A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

Bunny  was  a  great  historian  for  his  years,  and  was 
deeply  read  in  a  certain  species  of  highly-spiced 
fiction,  which  dealt  with  far-back  periods  when  chil- 
dren met  with  wonderful  adventures,  helped  to 
upheave  empires,  and  habitually  performed  prodi- 
gies of  valour.  It  is  true  that  both  he  and  Curly 
felt  a  little  natural  distrust  about  the  accuracy  of 
some  of  the  exploits  of  their  favourites,  and  the 
younger  boy  sometimes  professed  a  kind  of  con- 
tempt for  the  whole  race  of  juvenile  heroes,  and 
declined  to  believe  that  they  had  ever  done  half  the 
things  with  which  they  were  credited ;  but  on  the 
whole  they  found  extreme  pleasure  in  feeding  their 
imaginations  on  literature  of  this  kind,  and  only 
regretted  that  it  had  not  been  their  lot  to  live  in 
times  before  chivalry  and  romance  had  died  out. 
And  one  of  the  reasons  which  had  made  this  visit 
to  their  grandmother  so  welcome  was  the  hope  that 
they  might  chance  to  find  themselves  in  more 
romantic  surroundings  than  they  could  command  at 
home,  or  at  the  fashionable  watering-places  whither 
they  were  sometimes  transported. 

It  was  not  long  before  the  train  drew  up  at  the 
station  they  knew  to  be  theirs,  and  the  guard  put  his 
head  in  at  the  window,  and  helped  them  to  alight. 
He  spoke  to  a  porter,  who  took  them  in  charge,  and 
led  them  out  of  the  station,  and  told  them  which  was 
the  road  that  would  take  them  to  Ladywell  Priory. 


A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  27 

When  the  two  little  boys  actually  found  them- 
selves alone  on  a  real  country  road,  with  the 
prospect  of  an  adventure  in  the  immediate  future, 
their  delight  and  exultation  knew  no  bounds.  They 
nipped  one  another  by  the  hand,  and  Curly  said, 

"  Bunny,  do  you  feel  at  all  afraid — the  very  least- 
est  bit?" 

And  the  answer  was  spoken  with  the  utmost 
stoutness, 

"  No,  not  the  very  least." 

"  Nor  I.  Oh,  isn't  it  jolly!  I  wonder  what  the 
old  hag  will  say  to  us." 

"The  what,  Curly?" 

Curly  blushed,  and  hesitated  a  moment. 

"  Well,  I  said  'the  old  hag.'  I  heard  Bernard  call 
somebody  that  the  other  day — I  think  he  meant 
Lady  Prothero — and  I  thought  it  was  such  a  nice 
name.  I  thought  it  might  be  nice  to  call  grand- 
mother by  it — when  we're  by  ourselves,  you  know," 
he  added  quickly,  for  he  saw  a  look  of  disagreement 
on  Bunny's  face. 

"Well,  you'd  better  not  let  her  hear  you,  that's 
all.  If  you  do,  we  shall  be  packed  straight  off  to 
London  again." 

"  Oh  !  "  was  all  the  response  made  by  Curly.  He 
had  a  great  respect  for  his  brother's  opinion,  having 
often  found  it  right  when  he  had  not  expected  it  to 
be.  He  still  held  to  his  opinion  that  "  old  hag  " 


28  A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

was  a  very  endearing  kind  of  epithet  for  an  elderly 
lady,  but  if  Bunny  thought  otherwise  he  would 
certainly  be  careful. 

They  began  to  look  very  narrowly  about  them 
now,  for  Tor  had  said  it  was  not  a  long  walk  to  the 
house  ;  and  though  they  had  not  much  to  carry,  they 
thought  it  would  be  nice  to  see  their  journey's  end. 
Every  place  that  looked  like  a  farm  they  thought 
must  surely  be  the  place ;  but  everyone  told  them 
that  Ladywell  was  still  a  little  farther  off,  and  when 
at  last  a  rosy-cheeked  market-woman  actually  point- 
ed out  the  place  to  them  from  the  summit  of  the 
little  hill  on  the  brow  of  which  they  were  standing, 
Curly  was  quite  sure  that  she  had  made  a  mistake, 
for  that  building  looked  more  like  a  church  than  a 
house,  and  was  not  a  bit  like  a  farm. 

"  But  I  dare  say  it's  quite  near  there,"  he  re- 
marked, after  he  had  communicated  his  doubts  to 
Bunny;  and  indeed,  after  they  had  gone  a  little 
farther,  they  saw  that  behind  the  house  there  were 
plenty  of  farm-buildings,  and  Curly  nodded  his  head 
and  looked  about  him  in  a  sort  of  ecstasy,  for  of 
all  delightful  prospects  in  the  world,  surely  there 
could  be  nothing  so  delightful  as  the  idea  of  living 
at  a  farm-house. 

It  took  a  good  while  to  get  round  to  the  farm- 
buildings,  for,  as  Curly  plaintively  remarked,  the 
stupid  big  house  was  so  much  in  the  way,  with  its 


A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  29 

lodge-entrances  and  big  gardens  and  shrubberies. 
But  the  little  boys  plodded  patiently  along  till  they 
had  made  a  half-circle  round  it,  and  found  them- 
selves at  length  at  the  farm-entrance. 

Curly  squeezed  his  brother's  hand  tight,  and 
uttered  a  little  exclamation  of  delight.  Yes,  it  was 
all  just  as  he  had  pictured,  only  ten  times  more 
delightful  when  clothed  with  the  garb  of  reality. 
There  were  the  big  gates  opening  into  a  sort  of 
outer  yard,  with  cowsheds  and  pigstyes  in  long 
ranges  all  round  them,  and  beyond  that  the  great 
stack-yard — only  the  children  did  not  know  its  right 
name — in  which  innumerable  hens  and  chickens 
were  running  about,  the  mother-hens  with  their 
young  broods  delighting  the  hearts  of  the  children 
beyond  all  expression.  There  were  few  people 
about,  for  it  was  the  hour  of  the  men's  tea,  and  the 
place  was  almost  deserted,  save  for  the  animals 
themselves ;  but  that  did  not  matter  to  the  boys, 
who  were  in  no  particular  hurry  to  encounter  their 
grandmother.  Indeed  Curly  suggested  in  a  whisper 
that  they  should  sleep  in  one  of  the  barns,  or  under 
a  haystack,  and  not  present  themselves  till  next 
morning.  There  was  a  flavour  of  wild  dissipation 
about  such  a  plan  that  appealed  to  his  youthful 
imagination,  but  Bunny  shook  his  wise  little  head, 
and  said  that  it  would  be  silly,  and  that  there  would 
be  no  point  in  it. 


30  A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

Now  Curly  often  wondered  in  secret  what  could 
be  the  meaning  of  that  mysterious  phrase,  so  often 
used  by  his  elders,  and  what  was  the  point  they 
seemed  to  think  so  all-important ;  but  he  was  in  the 
stage  of  development  when  such  questions  are  sel- 
dom asked,  and  not  even  to  Bunny  would  he  betray 
his  ignorance.  So,  though  he  thought  that  in  this 
case  they  would  be  much  more  comfortable  without 
a  point  than  with  one,  he  never  demurred  at  the 
decision  of  his  senior,  and  only  contented  himself 
by  murmuring  that  it  would  not  be  his  fault  if  grand- 
mother were  cross  and  packed  them  back  that  night. 
He  would  have  made  sure  of  at  least  one  night  in 
the  country. 

By  this  time  they  had  cautiously  crossed  the  first 
yard,  and  made  their  way  half  through  the  second. 
The  tameness  of  the  little  yellow  chickens  delighted 
them,  and  Curly  actually  succeeded  in  picking  one 
up  in  his  hand,  to  the  great  annoyance  of  its  mother, 
who  looked  half  disposed  to  peck  the  sturdy  legs  of 
the  small  intruder.  However,  she  was  pacified  when 
the  little  squeaking,  fluttering  thing  was  restored  to 
her,  and  the  children  pursued  their  way,  feeling  very 
much  as  if  they  were  in  a  dream. 

They  didn't  know  in  the  least  which  way  to  go, 
and  could  see  no  sign  of  the  farm-house  itself. 
There  were  two  pretty  cottages  just  outside,  and 
there  were  plenty  of  buildings  all  about  them  ;  but 


A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  31 

they  could  not  see  anything  that  accorded  with  their 
preconceived  ideas  of  a  real  old  farm,  and  they 
would  almost  have  welcomed  the  sight  of  the  re- 
doubtable grandmother,  in  the  big  boots  and  gaiters, 
brandishing  the  big  whip,  as  Curly  had  imagined  her 
doing. 

"  Somebody  must  live  here,"  he  remarked  below 
his  breath.  "  I  wonder  where  they  have  all  gone 
to.  Oh,  there  is  an  old  man,  with  a  pitchfork  in  his 
hand.  Let's  go  and  ask  him  where  the  farm  is." 

So  hand  in  hand  the  little  brothers  advanced- 
Curly  full  of  curiosity,  and  happily  free  from  mis- 
givings, whilst  Bunny  began  to  see  that  things  were 
not  going  to  be  quite  as  his  brother  had  pictured 
them,  and  was  not  quite  certain  that  they  might  not 
be  ordered  off  the  place  as  common  trespassers. 

Anxious  to  propitiate  the  old  man  by  politeness, 
Bunny  pulled  off  his  cap,  and  Curly  did  the  same. 

"  If  you  please,  sir,"  began  the  elder  brother, 
"  can  you  tell  us  the  way  to  the  farm-house?" 

"  Eh,  what  ?  What  farm-house  ?  There  ain't  no 
farm-house  close  round  here." 

"Oh  but  there  is!"  cried  Curly,  impetuously. 
"We  know  there  is,  because  our  grandmother  lives 
in  it — and  we've  come  to  see  her." 

The  old  man  scratched  his  head,  which  seemed  to 
Curly  such  a  nice  way  of  relieving  his  impatience 
that  he  immediately  did  the  same. 


32  A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

"And  who  may  your  gran'mother  be,  young 
gen'lemen?"  asked  the  countryman,  with  a  perplexed 
glance  at  the  trim  little  London-dressed  children. 
"  You  don't  look  much  like  farm-folks,  I'm  think- 
ing." 

Curly  would  have  launched  into  long  explana- 
tions, but  Bunny  kept  to  the  point  by  answering, 

"Our  grandmother  is  called  Lady  Chesterton,  and 
she  lives  at  a  house  called  Ladywell  Priory,  and 
we've  come  to  see  her,  only  we  can't  find  her  house." 

"  Oh,  if  it's  Madam  you've  come  after,  you're  right 
enow,"  was  the  more  respectful  answer;  "  this  is  her 
farm,  sure  enow,  and  you  can  get  to  the  house  this 
way  if  you've  a  mind.  You  go  through  the  stable- 
yard  there,  and  you'll  see  a  red  door  at  the  far  end. 
That'll  take  you  straight  into  the  kitchen-garden, 
and  you'll  get  out  of  that  to  the  house  all  safe." 

"Thank  you  very  much,"  answered  Bunny,  po- 
litely; and  nipping  any  farther  confidences  on  the 
part  of  his  little  brother,  he  took  his  hand  and 
marched  off  in  the  direction  indicated. 

The  stable-yard  was  soon  found;  but  there  was 
such  a  nice  sound  of  stamping  feet  and  munching 
and  rattling  that  the  children  found  it  hard  to  tear 
themselves  away.  One  door  stood  open,  giving  an 
enchanting  glimpse  of  the  interior  of  a  stable,  and 
the  backs  of  the  sleek,  shining  horses;  but  Bunny 
made  straight  for  the  red  door  at  the  end,  and  when 


A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  33 

they  had  got  through  it  they  found  themselves  in  a 
big  garden,  with  walls  all  round,  in  which  all  sorts 
of  vegetables  were  growing,  as  well  as  such  masses 
of  spring  flowers  as  quite  to  take  their  breath  away. 

Against  one  of  the  long  walls  stood  a  range  of 
glass  houses,  from  the  walls  and  roofs  of  which  the 
sun  was  glancing  with  dazzling  brilliance ;  indeed 
it  was  all  so  bright  and  sunny  and  quiet  that  the 
little  boys  were  growing  actually  bewildered,  and 
quite  prepared  to  fancy  themselves  in  an  enchanted 
country  where  everybody  was  asleep.  They  had 
seen  nobody  so  far  except  the  old  countryman,  and 
this  place  appeared  as  solitary  as  the  yards  they  had 
left.  But  just  as  they  had  reached  this  conclusion, 
and  were  wondering  what  step  to  take  next,  a  door 
in  one  of  the  glass  houses  suddenly  opened,  and  out 
stepped  a  young  girl — that  is  to  say,  a  young  lady 
possibly  twenty  years  old,  so  that  she  was  hardly 
young  in  the  sight  of  the  children — who  advanced 
upon  them,  carrying  a  large  basket  of  flowers  in  her 
hands,  and  looking  as  bright  and  fresh  as  one  of  her 
own  blossoms,  in  her  pretty,  dainty  dress,  that 
seemed  as  if  it  might  have  been  woven  in  a  fairy- 
loom. 

When  she  saw  the  two  little  boys  she  stopped 
still  a  moment  in  surprise,  and  then  smiled  at  them 
very  gaily  and  brightly. 

"  Well,  you   little  trespassers,  and  what  are  you 


34  A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

doing  here  ?  Have  you  got  in  by  accident  and  lost 
your  way?  I  do  not  think  you  belong  to  the 
neighbourhood  ;  do  you  ?  " 

The  boys  had  bared  their.heads  again,  and  Curly's 
golden  locks  were  reflecting  back  the  glory  of  the 
declining  sun  in  a  most  picturesque  fashion. 

"  You  beautiful  little  viking,  do  tell  me  who  you 
are,"  said  the  young  lady,  approaching  with  every 
intention  of  kissing  him  ;  but  to  this  overture  Curly 
showed  no  intention  of  responding,  and  drawing 
back  in  a  very  ungallant  fashion,  he  said, 

"  Oh,  bother !  don't  do  that !  We've  got  too 
many  girls  at  home.  We  came  away  to  get  away 
from  them  chiefly.  They  are  such  a  bore." 

A  ringing  laugh  was  the  answer ;  and  Bunny, 
who  felt  rather  ashamed  of  his  brother's  frankness, 
hastened  to  add, 

"  Our  girls  aren't  a  bit  like  you — I  wish  they 
were  ;  but  Curly  is  too  young  to  discriminate.  We 
have  run  away  to  see  our  grandmother.  She  is 
called  Lady  Chesterton,  and  people  say  she  lives 
here ;  but  we  can't  find  the  house.  I'm  afraid  we 
have  got  into  your  garden  by  mistake." 

"  Oh,  this  is  delightful !  "  cried  the  young  lady. 
"  Have  you  really  come  to  see  us?  Oh  no,  you  have 
made  no  mistake.  This  is  the  right  place,  though 
not  the  usual  entrance.  Now  you  must  tell  me  all 
about  yourselves,  and  how  you  came  to  run  away. 


A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS*  35 

I  was  just  wishing  for  some  playfellows.  You  have 
come  in  the  very  nick  of  time." 

Bunny  was  perplexed,  for  he  could  not  imagine 
who  this  young  lady  was  who  seemed  so  very  much 
at  home  in  their  grandmother's  house.  He  did  not 
remember  ever  having  heard  about  her — but  then  he 
never  listened  when  the  girls  were  talking — and  he 
knew  she  could  not  be  an  aunt,  or  Tor  would  have 
told  them.  He  certainly  thought  the  old  lady 
lived  alone,  so  perhaps  this  was  only  a  visitor. 

Curly  was  feeling  a  good  deal  aggrieved  and 
disgusted. 

"  We  didn't  come  here  to  play  with  girls — we 
want  to  help  with  the  farm,"  he  remarked. 

"And  so  you  shall,  you  little  duck.  I'm  a  great 
farmer  myself,  and  I  help  grandmother  with  manag- 
ing everything.  You  shall  help  us  both  ;  there  is 
plenty  for  everybody  to  do.  Now  tell  me  all  about 
it,  and  how  you  came  to  run  away.  There  will  be 
plenty  of  time  to  hear  all  about  it  before  we  get  to 
the  house." 

Curly  began  to  thaw  from  his  first  displeasure, 
and  to  feel  more  disposed  to  tolerate  this  unexpect- 
ed intruder.  She  upset  his  calculations  a  good 
deal,  but  after  all  perhaps  she  might  turn  out  to 
have  some  sense.  At  any  rate,  they  were  quite 
willing  to  tell  her  their  story,  and  they  both  told  it 
together  with  great  eloquence  and  good-will. 


36  A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

The  young  lady  showed  a  good  deal  of  talent  in 
being  able  to  take  it  in  in  that  disjointed  fashion, 
but  she  turned  from  one  to  the  other,  and  seemed 
to  understand  what  each  was  saying  ;  and  before 
they  had  come  in  sight  of  the  house  she  seemed 
almost  like  an  old  friend,  so  fully  did  she  sympa- 
thise with  them  in  their  desire  to  get  away  from 
London  and  out  into  the  fresh  country. 

"  Well,  I  know  what  I  think  about  it.  I  think 
you  are  very  sensible  little  boys,  and  that  you 
deserve  a  good  long  holiday ;  and  if  the  grand- 
mother thinks  as  I  do,  you  shall  have  plenty  of 
fun  and  farming  before  you  are  packed  back  home 
again." 

"Is  she  your  grandmother  too?"  asked  Bunny, 
with  his  usual  wish  to  get  at  the  bottom  of  a 
mystery. 

"  No,  not  really ;  but  I  call  her  Granny,  for  want 
of  a  better  name.  She  is  really  no  relation  ;  but  she 
is  my  guawiian,  and  so  I  live  with  her.  Granny  and 
I  are  great  friends  ;  so  you  will  have  an  ally  on 
your  side,  you  see." 

Curly's  face  fell  somewhat.  He  had  no  intention 
of  being  rude,  but  he  was  of  the  age  when  there 
did  not  seem  any  reason  against  saying  just  what 
came  into  his  head. 

"  Oh,  do  you  live  there  ?     I  didn't  know  that." 

"  You  don't  seem  to  be  very  pleased." 


A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  37 

"  Well,  no,  I'm  not.  Part  of  the  fun  of  coming 
away  was  to  live  in  a  house  where  there  weren't  any 
girls." 

The  young  lady  laughed  merrily. 

"  Well,  we  must  see  what  we  can  do  to  remedy 
that  defect.  At  least  you  need  not  call  me  by  a 
girl's  name,  if  that  will  be  any  comfort  to  you." 

Both  boys  looked  at  her  inquiringly. 

"  What  is  your  name  ?  "  asked  Bunny. 

"  Phyllis  Musgrave ;  but  you  can  call  me  Phyl,— 
as  some  more  little  boys  of  my  acquaintance  do, — 
and  I  think  we  shall  soon  be  such  friends  that  you 
will  be  able  to  forget  that  I  am  anything  so  horrid 
and  useless  as  a  girl." 

And  Bunny  was  chivalrous  enough  to  remark 
thoughtfully, 

"  Oh,  I  dare  say  you  aren't  a  bit  like  our  girls — 
I'm  sure  you're  not.  I  suppose  there  must  be 
some  nice  girls  in  the  world,  to  turn  into  the  ladies 
for  the  knights  to  fight  about  and  rescue.  Curly, 
suppose  we  don't  count  her  as  a  girl  ;  she  might  be 
a  fair  maiden  or  a  distressed  damsel — you  know  you 
said  the  other  day  that  you  should  like  to  find  one." 

"  Yes,  if  she  was  tied  to  a  tree,  and  had  a  dragon 
with  claws  and  a  tail  just  going  to  eat  her  up," 
answered  Curly,  who  was  not  going  to  be  caught  in 
the  trap  too  easily.  "  I  should  like  her  then  ;  but 
she  isn't  a  bit  like  that." 


38  A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

"  Never  mind,  little  viking,  we  will  find  some- 
thing almost  as  attractive  as  a  dragon  one  of  these 
days,  and  you  will  no  doubt  have  the  chance  of 
doing  many  doughty  deeds.  And  now  there  is  the 
house,  and  grandmother  sitting  out  on  the  terrace. 
She  is  a  wonderful  old  lady,  as  you  will  soon  find 
out ;  not  many  ladies  of  seventy  would  care  to  have 
tea  out  of  doors  in  April.  And  now  you  must 
come  and  be  introduced,  for  you  know  you  have 
taken  us  unaware — just  as  the  knights  of  the  olden 
times  always  did." 

Just  as  Curly  was  beginning  to  protest  that  that 
wasn't  a  house  at  all,  but  either  a  church  or  a  ruin 
or  something  of  that  kind,  and  that^w  grandmother 
lived  on  a  farm,  and  he  wasn't  going  to  be  deluded 
by  anybody,  the  white-headed  old  lady  on  the 
terrace  called  out  in  very  clear,  ringing  tones, 

"  And  whom,  in  the  name  of  wonder,  Phyllis, 
have  you  got  there?  " 

"  A  pair  of  originals,  Granny,"  was  the  answer, 
greatly  perplexing  and  rather  offending  Curly,  who 
thought  they  were  being  compared  to  some  of  the 
strange  animals  beginning  with  O  that  Tor  talked 
about — an  opossum,  perhaps,  or  an  ornithorhynchus. 

But  the  thought  of  Tor  brought  with  it  other  in- 
structions; and  disengaging  his  hand  from  that  of 
Phyllis,  Curly  stepped  forward,  and  went  straight 
up  to  the  old  lady. 


A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  39 

"You  may  bite  my  head  off,  if  you  like,"  he  said 
valiantly,  protruding  that  member  forward  ;  "  I'm 
not  a  bit  afraid  of  you." 

"  And  who  are  you,  my  valiant  little  man  ?  " 

"  You're  my  grandmother,  and  you've  got  a  farm, 
and  we've  come  to  see  you  because  we're  so  tired 
of  the  girls.  We'll  help  you  to  drive  the  cows  and 
the  pigs.  We're  going  to  be  farmers,  Bunny  and 
I,  like  Tor.  Tor  will  teach  us  when  his  head 
doesn't  always  ache." 

Bunny  then  put  in  his  word,  holding  out  his  small 
brown  hand  as  he  'did  so. 

"  We  thought  it  was  time  we  made  your  ac- 
quaintance— Tor  said  so.  Tor  is  very  kind  to  us, 
though  nobody  else  is.  He  told  us  how  to  come  ; 
and  he  took  us  to  the  station  himself,  though  it  did 
make  his  head  ache  to  go  in  a  cab,  because  it  was  a 
secret;  and  if  the  girls  had  found  out,  they  might 
have  stopped  us.  That  would  have  been  like  the 
dog  in  the  manger,  for  they  can't  bear  coming  here 
themselves — I've  often  heard  them  say  so ;  but 
we  thought  it  would  be  nice,  and.  Tor  said  he  was 
very  happy  here  when  he  was  a  little  boy.  So  I 
hope  you  will  keep  us  and  let  us  stay  with  you. 
Oh,  and  I  hope  you  are  very  well." 

The  old  lady  did  not  attempt  to  interrupt  this 
long  speech,  but  sat  erect  in  her  chair,  looking  at  the 
two  children  with  great  steadiness.  She  was  a  very 


40  A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

handsome  old  lady,  though  her  face  was  not  soft 
and  tender,  as  some  people's  are  when  they  have 
reached  her  years.  Yet  it  was  a  face  that  many 
people  liked  to  look  at,  and  Bunny  found  his  eyes 
riveted  upon  it  as  he  proceeded  with  his  discourse. 
Curly  was  also  looking  at  her.  Some  people  found 
those  clear,  keen  eyes  hard  to  meet,  but  not  so 
the  children. 

"  I  like  you,"  he  said  suddenly,  as  soon  as  Bunny 
had  finished  what  he  was  saying — "  I  like  you,  and 
I  want  to  stay  with  you  a  whole  long  time." 

"  Ring  the  bell,  Phyllis,"  was  all  the  direct  answer 
made  to  these  advances.  Phyllis  stepped  within  the 
room,  and  meantime  nobody  spoke,  and  the  little 
interlopers  stood  looking  curiously  about  them. 

It  was  a  funny  house — there  could  be  no  two 
opinions  as  to  that.  This  south  front  which  they 
could  see,  running  along  the  wide  terrace-walk,  was 
all  built  of  grey  stone,  over  which  creepers  of  every 
kind  seemed  to  be  growing.  There  was  only  one 
story  over  the  ground-floor  rooms,  and  all  the  win- 
dows, both  abov.e  and  below,  were  divided  into 
little  narrow  partitions  by  heavy  stone  mullions, 
and  the  glass  was  all  in  queer  little  leaded  panes, 
just  as  the  children  had  sometimes  seen  it  in  very 
old  churches.  Some  of  the  windows  projected  out 
in  little  bays  or  oriels,  as  they  found  they  were 
called,  and  the  whole  house  looked  as  if  it  had  been 


A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  41 

jumbled  up  together  all  anyhow — as  Curly  afterwards 
told  his  grandmother,  when  they  were  on  more 
intimate  terms.  But  though  they  were  very  much 
puzzled  and  surprised  at  the  way  the  house  was  built, 
they  began  to  feel  very  much  delighted  too,  for  it 
could  not  be  denied  that  there  was  something  very 
romantic  about  such  a  place,  and  if  they  could  not 
live  in  historical  times  themselves,  at  least  it  was 
something  to  live  in  a  house  that  had  been  a  house 
when  history  had  been  going  on. 

Bunny  explained  all  this  afterwards  to  Curly,  who 
was  still  rather  disposed  to  be  sorry  that  the  place 
was  not  a  real  farm-house.  But  at  least  there  was 
consolation  in  the  thought  that  the  farm  was  not 
very  far  off,  and  meantime  they  must  make  the  best 
of  things  as  they  were. 

The  pause  on  the  terrace  was  interrupted  by  the 
arrival  upon  the  scene  of  a  sober  and  highly  re- 
spectable butler. 

"  Watkins,"  said  the  old  lady,  "  tell  Mrs.  Blake  to 
have  the  nurseries  got  ready  immediately.  Two 
young  gentlemen  will  want  them  to-night." 

"  Yes,  my  lady." 

"  And  send  to  the  station  for  their  luggage — I 
suppose  you  brought  a  box  with  you  ?" 

"  No,  only  our  night-things  in  parcels,"  answered 
Bunny,  displaying  his.  "  Tor  said  we  could  have  our 
things  sent  after  us,  if  you  decided  to  keep  us.  We 


42  A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

should  have  been  found  out  if  we  had  packed  a  box 
and  taken  it  away  with  us.  When  boys  run  away 
they  never  have  luggage,  you  know." 

If  the  man-servant  was  surprised  by  this  answer, 
at  least  he  gave  no  sign.  He  stood  awaiting  farther 
orders  like  a  block  of  stone. 

"  Phyllis,"  said  the  old  lady,  as  unmoved  as  her 
servant,  "just  send  a  telegram  to  Miss  Chesterton 
asking  that  the  children's  things  be  sent  here  im- 
mediately. Let  the  telegram  be  sent  off  at  once, 
Watkins." 

"  Yes,  my  lady." 

"  And  send  Hannah  here  at  once." 

"  Yes,  my  lady." 

In  a  few  minutes  appeared  a  smiling,  buxom, 
elderly  woman,  in  an  old-fashioned  cap  and  with  a 
white  muslin  neckerchief  pinned  crosswise  over  the 
front  of  her  dress.  She  looked  at  the  children  with 
an  air  of  benignant  curiosity. 

"These  two  young  gentlemen  have  come  on  a 
visit,"  said  the  mistress,  briefly ;  "  they  will  be  your 
special  charges.  Take  them  to  your  room  to  have  tea 
this  afternoon,  till  the  nurseries  are  got  ready.  They 
can  come  in  to  dessert  if  you  will  make  them  tidy." 

And  Bunny  and  Curly,  who  felt  by  this  time 
exactly  as  if  they  were  living  in  a  book,  were 
marched  off  by  the  elderly  woman  to  pastures  new? 
and  adventures  of  which  they  had  never  dreamed. 


CHAPTER    III 

"  WELL,  I  should  like  to  know  a  little  more  about 
this  sudden  incursion,"  remarked  Lady  Chesterton, 
as  she  helped  each  of  her  small  grandsons  to  forced 
strawberries  and  rich  cream,  which  luxuries  made 
Curly  open  his  eyes  wide  in  astonishment,  for  it  had 
not  occurred  to  him  to  associate  strawberries  with 
any  months  earlier  than  June  and  July.  "  What 
was  it  set  you  off  here,  my  little  men  ?  You  have 
never  paid  me  a  visit  before." 

"  No,"  answered  Curly,  "  we  never  thought  of 
such  a  thing.  You  see  the  girls  all  said  it  was  hor- 
rid at  your  house,  and  they  never  went  unless  they 
were  sent,  and  so  we  never  thought  it  could  be  nice 
— though  to  be  sure  we  might  have  guessed  that 
the  girls  would  be  sure  to  say  stupid  things  about 
everything.  It  was  Tor  who  told  us  how  nice  it 
was.  Poor  Tor!  I  wish  he  could  be  here  too." 

"Why  did  he  send  you?" 

"  Well,  you  see  we  were  so  dull,  and  we  wanted 
to  do  something  different  from  everything  we'd 
ever  done  before — 

43 


44  A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

"  We've  got  no  governess  now,  because  Miss  Mer- 
ton  is  ill,  and  won't  be  able  to  come  back  to  us 
before  the  summer  holidays.  So  we  had  lots  of 
time  on  our  hands — " 

"  And  nothing  to  do  that  we  hadn't  done  hun- 
dreds and  thousands  of  times  before,  and  we  were 
so  sick  of  everything — 

"  And  we  thought  it  would  be  so  jolly  to  have  a 
farm — " 

"  And  that  made  us  go  to  Tor,  because  he's  had 
one  of  his  own — " 

"  And  he  told  us  that  you  had  one,  and  said  he'd 
stayed  with  you  when  he  was  little  and  had  jolly 
fun  ;  and  he  told  us  how  to  get  here — and  I  wish 
he'd  have  come  too ;  for  it's  horrid  for  him  at  home, 
and  I  know  he'd  have  liked  it  so  much." 

"  Why  is  it  horrid  for  him  ?  "  asked  Phyllis  with 
interest. 

Bunny  screwed  up  his  face  into  an  expression  of 
profound  wisdom. 

"  Well,  I  don't  quite  know,  only  he's  in  disgrace. 
First  they  were  cross  because  he  went  away,  and 
now  they're  cross  because  he's  come  back ;  and  he 
can't  get  away  because  his  head  always  aches  so 
badly  if  he  does  anything,  and  nobody  -seems  to 
care  a  bit  for  him,  except  Curly  and  me — we're  very 
fond  of  him." 

"  Why  does  his  head  always  ache?  " 


A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  45 

"Oh,  because  he's  had  a  sun  stroke,  and  he  ought 
to  keep  very  quiet — I  heard  the  servants  saying  so." 

"  And  he  never  can  be  quiet  a  bit,  unless  he's  shut 
up  in  his  own  room — and  then  there's  the  noise  in 
the  street,"  added  Curly,  "  for  the  girls  always  will 
have  a  whole  humguffery  of  people  fooling  round 
after  them — " 

"  A  what,  dear  ? "  asked  Phyllis,  her  eyes  brim- 
ming over  with  laughter,  as  she  listened  to  the  nar- 
rative. 

Curly  blushed,  as  he  often  did  when  asked  to 
explain  himself,  but  answered  valiantly. 

"  A  whole  humguffery — Tor  said  so  himself;  and 
when  I  asked  him  what  a  '  humguffery '  was,  he  said 
it  was  something  like  the  crowd  of  fellows  the  girls 
always  had  fooling  round  after  them." 

Phyllis  gave  a  quick  look  at  Lady  Chesterton, 
and  her  eyes  seemed  to  dance  with  merriment.  As 
for  the  grandmother,  she  looked  at  Bunny  and 
said, 

"  Why  did  not  Tor  come  here  with  you,  if  he  was 
so  tired  of  the  noise  at  home?" 

"  That's  just  what  I  said,"  cried  Curly ;  whilst  the 
elder  brother  considered  the  matter  and  answered, 

"  I  think  he  was  afraid  to  come.  I  think  it's  be- 
cause he's  in  disgrace,  and  nobody  cares  for  him, 
and  everybody  is  cross.  I  suppose  he  thought  you 
would  be  cross  too." 


46  A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

"You  are  cross  rather  often,  aren't  you?"  ques- 
tioned Curly,  with  an  air  of  genuine  interest. 

"  I  think  perhaps  it  is  time  you  little  folk  went  to 
bed,"  was  all  the  answer  he  got.  "  Do  you  know 
the  way  up  to  the  nursery  ?  Very  well  ;  you  had 
better  go  up,  and  ring  for  Hannah.  She  will  be 
your  nurse  so  long  as  you  stay  here." 

"  She's  a  lot  nicer  than  our  nurse,"  said  Curly, 
getting  off  his  chair  and  going  round  to  say  good- 
night. "  Everybody's  nicer  here.  Perhaps  it's 
something  in  the  air.  P'raps  we  shall  get  nicer 
too.  Good-night,  Phyl ;  you're  quite  nice,  for  a  girl. 
You  might  write  and  tell  Tor  that  we've  got  here 
and  we  like  it  very  much.  I  can't  write  letters  yet. 
It  takes  such  a  time  to  make  the  letters." 

The  little  boys  went  away  hand  in  hand,  and 
Phyllis  looked  at  her  hostess  with  eyes  full  of 
laughter. 

"  Aren't  they  perfectly  delicious  ?  I  do  love  that 
beautiful  little  viking,  with  his  golden  curls  and  his 
delightful  speeches.  But  who  is  the  Tor  they  keep 
talking  of  ?  And  what  has  he  done  to  make  his  own 
people  treat  him  so  badly  ?  " 

"  Torwood  is  the  second  son — he  is  my  godson, 
and  was  called  after  my  maiden  name.  I  had  him 
here  once  as  a  boy,  and  thought  well  of  him  ;  but, 
as  you  know,  I  have  not  seen  much  of  my  son's 
family.  They  were  all  brought  up  very  badly — at 


A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  47 

least  with  great  laxity;  and  this  lad  was  said  to  be 
wild  and  unmanageable,  though  I  do  not  know  any- 
thing worse  of  him  than  that  he  had  a  craze  for 
emigration,  and  with  a  friend  went  to  Australia 
to  make  his  fortune,  which  of  course  he  did  not  do. 
I  heard  something  about  his  having  been  sent  home 
ill,  and  I  suppose  he  has  failed,  and  made  them  all 
angry  ;  but  that  is  no  good  reason  for  treating  him 
badly." 

"  No,  indeed  ;  and  he  seems  to  be  kind  to  these 
little  boys,  whom  the  girls  cannot  care  much 
about." 

"  So  it  seems.  Well,  we  know  something  of  them 
and  their  ways.  They  do  not  mean  any  harm,  but  I 
should  not  care  to  be  entrusted  to  their  care  if  I 
were  ill.  A  house  without  a  mother  at  its  head 
is  not  a  good  place  for  an  invalid.  I  have  a 
great  mind  to  write  and  send  for  him  to  come 
here." 

"  Oh  do,  Granny !  It  would  be  quite  amusing ; 
and  the  children  would  be  so  delighted  !  " 

"  My  dear,  I  never  make  up  my  mind  in  a 
hurry—" 

"Oh,  Granny,  Granny,  how  can  you  tell  such  a 
story  ? "  interpolated  Phyllis  ;  whereat  the  old  lady 
smiled,  but  went  on  in  the  same  calm  way,  as  if  no- 
body had  spoken. 

"  And  one  cannot  possibly  tell  that  this  may  not 


48  A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

all  be  part  of  a  plan  cooked  up  between  him  and  the 
children." 

"  Oh,  Granny,  you  unbelieving  old  thing !  As  if 
that  little  darling  viking  would  not  let  it  all  out  in 
a  moment  if  it  were  so!  You  know  you  don't  be- 
lieve it  yourself.  You  know  it's  only  because  you 
are  too  proud  to  break  through  your  rule  and 
tender  an  invitation.  I  think  you  might  make  an 
exception  in  favour  of  a  sick  godson  ;  but  you  are 
so  dreadfully  obstinate." 

"  Really,  Phyllis,  you  are  not  afraid  of  plain  speak- 
ing. You  seem  to  think  yourself  privileged  to  say 
just  what  comes  into  your  head." 

"  Well,  am  I  not,  Granny  ?  Who  has  always  given 
me  that  license  ?  " 

"  You  are  an  impertinent  chit,  that  is  what  you 
are  ;  but  you  will  not  get  me  to  do  anything  that 
I  do  not  feel  ready  to  do,  so  you  may  just  as  well 
make  up  your  mind  to  that  at  once." 

"  Well,  Granny,  as  no  one  has  ever  yet,  to  the 
knowledge  of  mortal  man,  induced  you  to  do  what 
you  have  not  got  a  mind  to,  I  suppose  it  is  hopeless 
for  me  to  try  and  begin  ;  but  I  do  feel  very  sorry 
for  that  poor  Tor  pining  for  quiet  and  fresh  air  ;  and 
if  you  are  not  a  great  deal  more  hard-hearted  than  I 
take  you  to  be,  you  will  soon  have  him  down  here 
to  see  what  Ladywell  air  can  do  for  him.  You 
know  you  dearly  love  a  bit  of  nursing." 


A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  49 

The  old  lady  made  no  immediate  response,  but 
deliberately  helped  herself  to  a  glass  of  wine. 

"  A  sick  man,  my  dear,  is  a  simple  abomination. 
A  woman  when  she  is  ill  has  the  grace  to  know  how 
to  behave  herself,  and  to  show  a  little  gratitude  to 
those  about  her;  but  a  man  considers  the  whole 
universe  in  league  against  him,  and  those  who  do 
most  to  amuse  and  make  him  better  are  the  very 
ones  who  get  the  roughest  side  of  his  tongue.  I 
know  their  ways." 

Phyllis  laughed  merrily. 

"  I  dare  say  you  do,  Granny  ;  you  know  most 
things,  I  think.  But  at  least  you  will  keep  these 
two  dear  little  originals  for  a  long  visit.  I  think  it 
was  delightful  of  them  to  come  in  this  casual  way. 
You  like  it  too,  don't  you,  Granny?" 

"  It  is  never  my  habit  to  close  my  doors  against 
those  of  my  own  name,"  answered  Lady  Chesterton, 
rather  magnificently.  "  I  have  no  objection  to  a 
pair  of  boys  in  the  house,  provided  only  they  keep 
to  their  own  quarters  and  do  not  give  too  much 
trouble.  I  think  you  may  chance  to  get  on  better 
with  them,  Phyllis,  than  with  their  numerous  half- 
sisters." 

"  The  girls  !  "  cried  Phyllis  with  another  laugh. 
"  I  love  the  expression  they  manage  to  throw  into 
those  words.  Yes,  I  almost  fancy  I  shall  have  more 
in  common  with  the  little  fellows,  if  only  they  can 


50  A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

get  over  the  horrid  fact  that  I  too  am  a  girl.  You 
should  have  seen  the  air  the  little  viking  put  on 
when  he  heard  I  lived  here,  and  the  excuses  for  my 
existence  his  brother  felt  bound  to  make." 

Meantime  the  children  upstairs  were  rapidly 
reaching  the  conclusion  that  coming  to  this  place 
had  been  the  grandest  step  they  could  possibly  have 
taken.  They  found  Hannah  up  in  the  nursery  when 
they  reached  it — fat  Hannah,  who  did  not  look  as 
though  she  could  ever  be  cross  even  if  she  tried — 
with  the  hot  water  all  ready  for  the  baths,  and  a 
smile  of  welcome  on  her  broad  homely  face. 

"  You're  a  whole  lot  nicer  than  our  own  Nan," 
said  Curly,  as  he  splashed  the  water  over  himself 
and  her  with  the  greatest  good-will  in  the  world. 
"  She's  always  cross  on  tub-nights,  and  won't  let 
us  have  hot  water  every  day  when  we  go  to  bed. 
Will  you  let  us  have  tubs  every  night  ?  Oh,  thank 
you.  Bunny,  do  you  hear  ?  Isn't  she  a  real  nice 
Nan  ?  Is  everybody  nice  who  lives  here  ?  I  say, 
Bunny,  perhaps  we  shall  get  nice  too.  Suppose  we 
got  so  nice  that  Granny  kept  us  always  :  wouldn't 
that  be  fine?" 

Then  Bunny  elicited  the  fact  that  Hannah  had 
known  Tor  when  he  had  stayed  at  his  grand- 
mother's as  a  little  boy.  She  had  been  his  nurse 
too,  and  had  found  him  "  a  pretty  handful,  but  a 
fine  high-spirited  young  gentleman  for  all  that." 


A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  51 

She  was  quite  concerned  to  hear  of  his  present  mel- 
ancholy condition,  which  Curly  painted  in  lugubri- 
ous colours,  and  quite  agreed  that  it  was  a  thousand 
pities  he  should  not  get  out  of  that  noisy  house  and 
into  the  country,  where  sick  folks  had  a  much 
better  chance  of  getting  well  again. 

Bunny  hoped  she  would  represent  all  this  to  her 
mistress,  though  he  did  not  say  so,  as  Curly  would 
certainly  have  done  if  the  idea  had  occurred  to 
him  ;  but  both  the  little  boys  were  very  eager  to 
have  Tor  down  in  the  country  with  them,  partly  on 
their  own  account,  because  they  thought  he  would 
be  a  valuable  ally,  and  partly  because  they  were 
really  very  fond  of  him,  and  were  sorry  that  he 
should  be  so  dull  as  he  was  at  home,  cooped  up 
almost  all  day  in  his  own  room,  where  nevertheless 
he  could  not  find  the  quiet  he  so  much  needed. 

The  little  brothers  were  so  long  getting  to  sleep, 
after  all  the  excitements  of  the  day,  that  they  were 
quite  late  waking  in  the  morning,  and  the  first 
thing  that  struck  them,  after  the  delight  of  finding 
themselves  really  in  the  country,  was  the  fact  that 
nobody  scolded  them  for  sleeping  so  late,  although 
the  nursery  breakfast  had  been  laid  for  more  than 
an  hour. 

"  Bless  their  little  hearts  !  they  should  have  their 
sleep  out — that  they  should,"  was  all  Hannah's  reply 
to  Bunny's  apologies. 


52  A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

And  it  was  such  a  delightful  breakfast  too,  with 
fresh  eggs,  and  dear  little  rolls  all  crisp  and  hot,  as 
well  as  the  regulation  bread  and  milk  ;  and  Curly  re- 
marked that  if  everything  was  always  so  delicious, 
and  if  they  always  had  so  much  to  eat,  he  was  afraid 
he  should  really  burst  before  long.  Bunny  was 
rather  scandalised  at  such  frankness,  but  Hannah 
only  laughed  and  blessed  his  little  heart  again,  and 
told  them  to  eat  all  they  could,  for  country  folks 
who  lived  always  out  in  the  air  needed  a  great  deal 
of  good  food  to  keep  them  hearty. 

"  And  when  you've  done,  you  must  wash  your 
hands  and  go  to  chapel  for  prayers,  and  then  per- 
haps Madam  will  take  you  round  the  farm  with  her. 
She  and  Miss  Phyllis  always  go  first  thing  after 
service,  every  day  of  their  lives." 

A  daily  service  was  quite  a  novel  idea  to  the  two 
little  brothers ;  and  though  they  liked  anything  new 
at  the  outset,  they  were  not  certain  if  such  a  thing 
might  not  get  tiresome  after  a  while.  There  had 
never  been  any  prayers  at  home,  as  the  girls  did  not 
care  for  the  trouble  of  "  that  kind  of  thing ;"  and 
certainly  nothing  like  the  quiet  little  service  in  the 
beautiful  old  chapel  of  the  ancient  Priory  had  ever 
been  witnessed  by  these  two  little  boys. 

The  clergyman,  who  lived  close  by,  or,  in  his 
absence,  one  of  his  curates,  came  every  day  at  nine 
o'clock  to  take  the  brief  service  ;  and  besides  the 


A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  53 

household  of  Lady  Chesterton,  a  great  number  of 
her  farm-servants,  and  several  labourers  or  farmers 
from  the  immediate  vicinity  dropped  in,  and  alto- 
gether there  was  quite  a  little  congregation  present. 

The  village  church  was  not  nearly  so  central  as 
the  Priory  chapel ;  daily  service  had  been  a  thing 
unknown  when  the  present  clergyman  came  to  the 
place  ;  and  after  much  discussion  with  Lady  Ches- 
terton, who  had  always  greatly  regretted  that  there 
were  so  few  opportunities  for  the  people  to  meet 
together  for  prayer  or  praise,  according  to  the 
teaching  of  the  Church,  it  had  been  arranged  that  a 
short  daily  service  should  be  held  each  morning  in 
the  chapel  attached  to  her  house.  Her  own  pres- 
ence and  that  of  her  servants  would  preclude  the 
possibility  of  an  empty  church,  and  by  example  and 
precept,  and  the  encouragement  given  them  to 
leave  their  work  for  this  brief  period  in  order  to  be 
present  in  the  chapel,  the  labourers  found  their  way 
by  ones  and  twos  into  the  hallowed  place,  and,  as 
many  of  them  said  to  their  wives  at  home  after- 
wards, "  It  did  seem  to  do  they  good — and  it  didn't 
waste  much  time,  to  be  sure  ;  and  Madam  never 
minded  sparing  them  from  their  work,  if  it  was  to 
go  to  chapel  now  and  again." 

So  by  degrees  the  wives  came  too  ;  not  regularly, 
of  course,  but  once  in  a  way — this  one  one  day,  and 
that  one  another,  as  their  home  duties  gave  them 


54  A    PAIR    OF  ORIGINALS 

opportunity.  And  so,  except  in  very  bad  weather, 
there  was  quite  a  little  gathering  beneath  the 
vaulted  roof  of  the  little  Gothic  building.  Phyllis 
played  the  organ,  and  the  one  hymn  was  always 
sung  heartily  and  with  enjoyment.  The  whole 
service  was  over  in  a  quarter  of  an  hour,  and  Curly 
thought  he  should  be  fonder  of  going  to  church 
on  Sundays  if  things  were  done  more  after  that 
fashion. 

When  the  congregation  had  dispersed  by  differ- 
ent doors,  the  children  ran  eagerly  up  to  their 
grandmother,  who  had  just  emerged  from  the  door 
by  which  they  had  stationed  themselves. 

"  Good-morning,  Granny  !  "  cried  Curly.  "  Is  this 
your  church,  and  why  are  you  not  clergyman  too  ? 
Would  you  like  to  have  me  for  your  parson  when  I 
am  grown  up  ?  I  don't  think  I  should  mind  it  so 
much,  if  I  lived  with  you  and  had  a  church  like 
that." 

The  old  lady  looked  at  him  gravely. 

"  I  should  like  you  to  have  a  little  more  reverence 
for  holy  things,"  she  said,  in  a  different  voice  from 
any  that  Curly  had  heard  before,  though  it  was  not 
at  all  cross,  and  the  face  he  looked  up  into  was 
not  severe  either,  only  full  of  a  meaning  rather  in 
advance  of  what  the  child  was  able  to  understand. 

"  I  didn't  mean  to  be  naughty,"  he  said  quickly, 
"  but  the  girls  always  laugh  about  everything." 


A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  55 

"  Yes,  perhaps  so ;  but  there  are  a  few  things  that 
I  do  not  care  to  hear  made  a  joke  of,  even  by  little 
boys.  But  never  mind  that  now  ;  you  can  come  with 
me,  and  I  will  show  you  how  I  manage  my  farm." 

Curly  promptly  put  his  small  hand  into  that  of 
his  grandmother,  and  Bunny  followed  with  Phyllis. 

"  Have  you  got  a  bull?"  asked  the  younger  boy, 
"  and  don't  you  want  a  big  whip  when  you  go  to 
the  farm  ?  I  thought  you'd  be  sure  to  have  a  whip. 
I  thought  I  might  carry  it  for  you,  perhaps." 

"  Perhaps  we  can  find  you  one  presently,"  an- 
swered the  old  lady,  to  his  great  contentment.  "  Now 
come  with  me,  and  see  everything  you  like  ;  but 
when  I  am  talking  to  the  people,  don't  interrupt  me." 

Curly  nodded  and  seemed  to  understand ;  and  as 
they  passed  into  the  big  yard  they  had  entered 
the  previous  evening,  he  looked  about  him  with 
renewed  curiosity,  for  it  was  a  busy  enough  place 
to-day,  full  of  people,  and  of  noise  too, — for  a  great 
threshing-machine  was  threshing  out  a  stack,  and 
there  was  such  a  puffing  and  a  blowing  going  on  as 
filled  the  air  with  steam  and  vibration  ;  and  to  the 
children,  who  had  never  witnessed  such  a  sight 
before,  it  was  a  thing  not  soon  to  be  forgotten. 

"What  is  it?"  asked  Curly,  standing  with  his 
feet  apart  and  staring  at  the  great  engine  as  if  fas- 
cinated. 

And    then    Lady   Chesterton,   who   was    a  wise 


56  A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

woman  and  liked  even  little  people  to  understand 
what  they  saw,  explained  to  the  children  all  that 
was  going  on — how  the  corn  that  was  in  one  stack 
was  put  into  the  mouth  of  the  great  engine  and  the 
grain  threshed  out,  and  how  the  straw  came  out  at 
another  place  and  was  built  into  another  big  stack, 
ready  for  use  in  the  stables  and  cow-sheds  when 
wanted.  Bunny  showed  such  an  aptitude  in  under- 
standing the  working  of  the  wheels  that  his  grand- 
mother patted  his  head  and  told  him  he  would  be  a 
regular  little  engineer  one  of  these  days ;  and  it  was 
with  difficulty  that  the  children  tore  themselves 
away,  divided  by  their  desire  to  accompany  their 
grandmother  on  her  round  of  inspection,  and  to 
watch  the  evolutions  of  the  snorting  monster  who 
was  doing  such  wonderful  things. 

The  permission  to  come  back  alone  later  on,  if 
they  would  promise  not  to  get  in  the  way,  together 
with  the  assurance  that  the  engine  would  be  at 
work  till  evening,  decided  the  little  pair  to  move  on 
with  the  ladies ;  and  it  was  an  edifying  spectacle  to 
see  how  Curly  listened  to  the  questions  and  orders 
to  the  men,  as  "  Madam  " — as  she  seemed  generally 
called — moved  from  one  place  to  the  other,  noting 
everything,  sometimes  with  approval,  sometimes 
with  censure,  but  with  a  calm  appreciation  and 
knowledge  that  seemed  to  the  children  something 
little  short  of  marvellous. 


A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  57 

There  was  a  sick  cow  to  be  visited,  a  new  calf  to 
be  inspected,  two  more  hens  "  set ;"  and  when  the 
thirteen  eggs  had  been  counted  out  from  the  egg- 
room,  of  which  Phyllis  kept  the  key,  and  the  fluffy 
hens  had  settled  comfortably  down  upon  them  in 
the  dark  boxes  well  shut  in  from  chance  of  moles- 
tation, the  grandmother  turned  to  the  little  boys 
with  a  kind  smile,  and  said, 

"  If  you  are  still  here  when  the  chickens  are 
hatched,  you  shall  have  one  of  the  broods  for  your 
own — if  you  will  undertake  to  look  after  them  prop- 
erly." 

Curly's  face  beamed  all  over. 

"  Oh,  Granny  !  you  are  a  nice  Granny.  We'll  be 
sure  to  be  here  ;  won't  we,  Bunny?" 

"  If  Granny  will  keep  us  all  that  time,"  answered 
the  elder  brother,  with  a  shrewd  appealing  glance 
in  his  eyes. 

"  How  long  will  it  take?"  asked  Curly,  appealing 
to  Phyllis,  who  had  by  this  time  risen  considerably 
in  his  estimation. 

"Three  weeks.  Is  that  too  long  for  your  pa- 
tience, sir?" 

"  No.  I  shouldn't  care  if  it  were  three  months, 
or  even  three  years,  if  we  might  stay  here  all  the 
time,"  was  the  bold  rejoinder. 

There  was  a  laugh  at  that,  and  Lady, Chesterton 
said,  smiling, 


58  A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

"  Well,  at  least  if  your  father  does  not  recall  you, 
you  shall  stay  to  see  your  chickens  out." 

As  the  round  of  the  farm  was  made  every  morn- 
ing, there  was  not  much  to  detain  them,  and  soon 
the  party  emerged  into  a  piece  of  outside  kitchen- 
garden,  bordered  on  one  side  by  a  paddock,  in 
which  a  solitary  beast  was  grazing,  who  looked  sus- 
piciously at  the  intruders. 

"  There's  the  bull,"  said  Phyllis  ;  "  he  is  not  quite 
such  a  nice  pet  as  .some  of  the  things  you  have 
seen." 

But  hardly  were  the  words  out  of  her  mouth  be- 
fore Curly  was  over  the  iron  fence  and  in  full  career 
towards  the  savage  brute. 

"  Child,  child,  what  are  you  doing  ?  Come  back 
this  instant ! "  cried  the  grandmother,  and  that  in 
such  imperious  tones  that  the  child  paused  in  his 
headlong  flight  and  looked  back,  though  without 
moving. 

"  All  right,  Granny ;  I  only  want  to  take  him  by 
the  'horns,"  he  called  out  cheerfully,  his  cheeks 
flushed,  his  eyes  sparkling,  his  yellow  curls  waving 
in  the  wind,  a  perfect  little  picture  of  sturdy  inde- 
pendence. 

"  Come  back  at  once,"  was  the  imperative  call ; 
and  the  child  obeyed,  though  with  manifest  reluc- 
tance, the  bull  not  moving,  though  he  glared  at  the 
small  intruder  with  an  ugly  gleam  in  his  savage  eyes. 


A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  59 

"Why  didn't  you  let  me  go?"  he  asked  in  rather 
an  aggrieved  way.  "  Tor  said  that  if  we  came  to 
see  you,  we  were  to  be  sure  to  take  the  bull  by  the 
horns." 

Phyllis  laughed  merrily,  and  the  face  of  the  grand- 
mother, which  had  contracted  with  anxiety,  now  re- 
laxed into  one  of  her  peculiar  smiles. 

"  Torwood  seems  to  have  told  you  a  variety  of 
remarkable  things ;  but  understand,  children,  you 
must  never  go  into  this  paddock.  That  creature 
would  be  the  death  of  you  before  any  one  could  get 
in  to  help  you.  Do  you  understand?" 

"  Yes,"  answered  Bunny,  readily ;  "  I  will  take 
care  of  Curly." 

The  next  visit  was  to  the  gardens,  where  there 
was  so  much  to  see  and  to  talk  about  that  most 
children  would  have  grown  weary  and  gone  off  to 
their  play.  But  not  so  the  two  little  brothers, 
to  whom  everything  was  like  a  strange  new 
game,  played  by  their  elders  for  their  express 
benefit ;  and  when  Phyllis,  remarking  that  she  had 
some  potting  to  do,  left  her  grandmother  deep  in 
the  discussion  of  the  spring  sowings  with  the  head- 
gardener,  the  children  ran  eagerly  after  her,  asking 
if  they  might  not  help. 

"  If  you  like,"  answered  Phyllis.  "  I  should  be 
very  glad  to  be  helped,  only  it  is  very  dull  work, 
you  must  know." 


60  A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

But  the  boys  were  eager  to  assist,  and  they  did 
not  find  it  dull  at  all.  First  they  found  great  pleas- 
ure in  looking  at  the  flowers  in  "  Phyl's  greenhouse," 
as  they  called  it,  and  looked  at  her  with  more  re- 
spect when  they  heard  that  she  managed  every- 
thing herself,  and  had  done  so  ever  since  she  was 
quite  a  little  girl  and  had  begged  to  have  a  green- 
house of  her  own  to  rear  her  favourite  flowers.  It 
was  fascinating  to  learn  the  names  of  all  the  pretty 
things,  and  to  fill  the  water-pots,  as  fast  as  Phyl 
emptied  them,  from  the  tank  underneath  the  stage, 
in  which  Curly,  to  his  infinite  joy,  caught  a  small 
frog.  Then  certain  plants  were  put  aside  that  want- 
ed potting,  and  Bunny  was  deputed  to  fetch  up  a 
small  wheelbarrow  from  a  neighbouring  corner,  and 
in  it  the  pots  were  placed  and  wheeled  to  a  delight- 
ful little  dark  shed,  full  of  empty  pots  and  heaps  of 
soil  and  tools  of  various  descriptions.  And  then  be- 
gan the  mysteries  of  changing  the  flowers  from  little 
pots  into  big  ones,  giving  to  each  the  kind  of  soil  it 
liked  best,  breaking  up  crocks  for  the  bottom  of  the 
pots,  and  watering  them  when  the  operation  was 
over.  Phyl  talked  so  charmingly  about  her  flowers, 
and  made  it  all  so  interesting,  that  the  children 
burned  with  desire  to  have  a  garden  of  their  own 
and  grow  plants  for  themselves ;  and  the  morning 
slipped  away  so  fast  that  they  could  hardly  believe 
their  ears  when  the  sound  of  the  one-o'clock  gong 


A   PAIR   Of  ORIGINALS  61 

warned  them  to  run  indoors  to  be  washed  and 
made  fit  to  sit  down  to  luncheon  with  their  grand- 
mother and  Phyllis. 

The  afternoon  was  spent  almost  as  entrancingly 
in  the  stack-yard,  and  it  seemed  as  if  years  divided 
them  from  the  dull  days  at  home,  in  which  they 
had  been  tired  of  everything,  when  they  walked 
back  to  the  house  in  answer  to  a  summons  to  tea. 

And  when  good  Hannah  met  them  with  the  news 
that  their  clothes  had  come  from  London,  and  that 
no  objection  had  been  raised  to  the  visit  they  had 
planned  to  make  at  their  grandmother's  house, 
Curly  fairly  hugged  the  kind  old  soul,  and  Bunny 
gravely  told  her  that  he  would  marry  her  when  he 
grew  old  enough,  and  that  they  would  all  live  to- 
gether on  some  ideal  farm  of  their  own,  with  Tor 
to  direct  operations  and  keep  everything  going 
right. 

And  so  in  blissful  plans  and  projects  ended  the 
first  day  at  Ladywell  Priory. 


CHAPTER  IV 

"  GRANNY,"  said  Curly,  "  may  we  have  a  garden  of 
our  very  own  ?  " 

"  What  would  you  do  if  you  had  one,  do  you 
think?" 

"  Grow  flowers  in  it,  of  course,"  answered  Curly, 
"  like  what  Phyl  has  in  hers.  I  like  Phyl's  garden 
better  than  yours.  She  has  nice  big  bushy  flowers 
that  come  up  by  themselves  and  do  as  they  like,  and 
don't  all  go  into  patterns,  like  they  do  in  the  Park 
in  London." 

"  And  you  think  herbaceous  borders  are  made  in 
a  day,  do  you,  young  man  ?  How  long  do  you 
think  Phyllis  has  been  in  collecting  her  plants  and 
flowers  ?  " 

Curly  had  no  ideas  on  this  subject.  He  stared 
rather  vaguely,  and  Bunny  came  to  his  aid  by 
adding, 

"  We  should  grow  vegetables  too — nice  fresh 
vegetables,  like  we  have  here  ;  and  we  should  send 
them  to  Tor,  because  he  never  has  anything  nice 
now." 

"  He's  to  have  the  flowers  too,"  said  Curly,  eager- 

62 


A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  63 

ly.  "  Mayn't  we  have  a  garden,  Granny?  We  would 
take  such  care  of  it,  if  we  might.  We  help  Phyl  a 
whole  lot  now — you  ask  her  if  we  don't." 

"  You  wanted  a  farm  the  other  day,"  remarked 
the  grandmother  with  one  of  the  smiles  the  children 
were  beginning  to  think  less  grim  than  they  had 
done  at  first.  "  If  you  change  your  minds  every  day 
of  your  life,  what  am  I  to  think  of  your  fancies  ?  " 

The  little  brothers  exchanged  glances,  and  then 
Bunny  said, 

"  You  see,  it's  like  this  :  we  should  like  the  farm 
best,  but  we're  afraid  we  couldn't  manage  it  without 
Tor  to  help  us ;  but  we  might  manage  a  garden,  per- 
haps ;  and  now  he's  so  much  worse  again,  he  would 
like  to  have  some  nice  flowers  and  things  to  cheer 
him  up." 

"  How  do  you  know  he  is  worse?"  asked  Lady 
Chesterton,  quickly. 

"  Madge  said  so — she  wrote  to  us  yesterday.  The 
girls  don't  often  write  ;  but  I  suppose  she  was  hard 
up  for  something  to  do.  She  said  it  was  so  tiresome 
of  Tor  to  keep  so  bad,  and  that  since  it  got  hot  he's 
not  once  been  outside  his  room,  or  even  had  the 
blinds  up,  and  that  his  being  at  home  takes  up  one 
of  the  spare  rooms  just  when  they  want  to  fill  the 
house  and  have  a  lot  of  people.  They've  bundled 
him  into  a  smaller  room  to  be  more  out  of  the  way 
— a  horrid  hot  little  hole  under  the  roof,  where  I 


04  A   PAIR   Of  ORIGINALS 

wouldn't  sleep  for  something  in  the  summer — and 
taken  up  the  room  he  had  ;  and  the  servants  their 
fine  friends  bring  have  our  nurseries :  and  a  nice 
noise  there  will  be  all  day  and  most  of  the  night. 
Granny,  don't  you  think  we  might  have  some 
flowers  for  him  ?  He  has  so  little  that's  nice,  and 
people  are  so  unkind  to  him." 

Lady  Chesterton  had  risen  and  walked  to  her 
writing-table  as  the  child  was  speaking.  Curly  was 
a  little  disappointed  at  the  small  amount  of  interest 
she  seemed  to  take  in  what  he  was  saying ;  but  at 
his  question  she  turned  and  looked  at  him. 

"  Can  you  think  of  anything  better  than  that  ?  " 

Bunny  was  silent  ;  but  Curly  said  promptly, 

"  I  can." 

Phyllis  looked  as  if  she  could  too,  but  she  said 
nothing,  though  her  eyes  were  full  of  fun  ;  and  Lady 
Chesterton  went  on  speaking  as  though  she  had  not 
asked  a  question. 

"  This  is  a  telegram  to  your  father,  boys,  to  tell 
him  to  send  Torwood  here  if  the  doctor  approves 
of  his  taking  the  journey.  Now,  if  he  comes,  will 
you  undertake  to  wait  upon  him,  so  that  he  may 
feel  at  home  without  wanting  a  servant  to  attend  to 
him  all  day  ?  " 

Both  the  little  boys  were  fairly  dancing  with 
excitement  and  joy. 

"Oh,  Granny,  of  course   we   will!     Oh,  Granny 


A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  65 

what  a  nice  Granny  you  are  !  Oh,  won't  he  like  it 
when  he  is  here !  Oh,  we  will  have  jolly  good 
times,  that  we  will !  " 

"You  will  have  to  give  up  a  great  many  of  the 
things  you  like  best  to  do,"  said  their  grandmother, 
looking  from  one  to  the  other.  "  You  cannot  run 
about  the  farm  all  day  if  you  are  going  to  wait 
upon  your  brother,  and  you  will  not  be  able  to  have 
the  same  liberty  as  you  have  enjoyed  all  this  time. 
You  had  better  count  the  cost  before  you  make 
up  your  minds." 

But  the  little  brothers  stuck  manfully  to  their 
word. 

"  We'll  stay  with  Tor.  He  was  kind  to  us  when 
we  were  dull,  and  we'll  be  kind  to  him  now.  It's 
worse  for  him  than  it  was  for  us.  Don't  be  afraid, 
Granny  ;  we'll  take  all  the  responsibility." 

Bunny  was  not  quite  sure  what  '  responsibility ' 
meant,  but  he  liked  the  sound  of  the  word,  and 
Curly  was  delighted. 

"  Yes,  Granny  ;  indeed  we'll  have  all  the  'sponsi- 
bility.  We  are  quite  big  enough  to  take  care  of 
poor  Tor." 

"  Very  good ;  I  shall  expect  you  to  abide  by  your 
decision.  I*am  too  busy  to  look  after  an  -invalid 
myself,  and  there  will  only  be  you  two  to  do  it.  So 
if  you  think  you  will  get  tired  and  wish  him  gone, 
we  had  better  not  have  him  at  all." 


66  A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

But  the  children  were  not  to  be  daunted,  and  the 
telegram  was  dispatched ;  and  before  very  many 
hours  had  passed,  another  message  had  reached  the 
house  saying  that  Tor  might  be  expected  the  follow- 
ing afternoon,  by  the  same  train  that  the  children 
had  travelled  by. 

There  was  great  jubilation  when  this  message 
arrived,  and  the  children  raced  about  after  Hannah, 
who  was  told  to  prepare  a  room  for  him  ;  and  they 
held  great  consultations  as  to  what  aspect  would 
suit  him  best,  finally  settling  on  a  north  room, 
always  rather  dark  on  account  of  the  big  cedar- 
tree  that  shaded  it — a  room  where  the  sun  never 
shone  save  for  an  hour  in  the  late  afternoon,  and 
which  looked  out  into  a  cool  shrubbery  that  could 
be  reached  by  a  little  staircase  close  by.  There 
was  a  comfortable  sofa  in  the  room,  as  well  as 
the  ordinary  furniture  of  a  bedroom,  and  under 
Hannah's  careful  ministrations  the  place  soon  be- 
gan to  assume  such  a  bright  and  homelike  air 
that  Curly  fairly  capered  with  delight,  wondering 
what  Tor  would  think  of  it  all. 

"  Why  can't  the  girls  make  our  rooms  at  home 
like  this  ?  They  can't  do  anything  sensible,  I 
believe." 

"  Sick  folks  oughter  to  be  looked  after  proper- 
like,"  remarked  old  Hannah,  who  had  ideas  of  her 
own  upon  most  subjects,  and  had  heard  a  good  deal 


A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  67 

from  the  little  boys  as  to  the  way  things  were  man- 
aged in  their  house,  much  of  which  met  with  little 
approval  in  her  eyes.  "  If  there  had  been  any 
gumption  in  any  of  them  young  ladies,  Master  Tor 
needn't  never  have  got  bad  again.  I've  no  patience 
with  folks  being  too  fine  or  too  idle  or  too  fond  of 
their  own  ways  to  look  after  a  sick  brother.  But 
we'll  have  him  on  his  legs  again  fast  enough  once 
we  get  him  here.  The  pity  is  Madam  did  not  have 
him  down  sooner." 

"  That's  what  we  said  ;  but  she  wouldn't  listen  at 
first,  and  Tor  wouldn't  ask  himself,  though  we  did 
tell  him  he'd  better.  We  could  have  arranged  it 
all  quite  nicely  long  ago,  if  only  they  would  have 
listened  to  us ;  but  grown-ups  always  think  they 
know  best ;"  and  Curly  drew  himself  up  in  a  sort  of 
unconscious  compassion  for  the  deluded  creature 
who  had  not  had  the  sense  to  learn  of  him. 

Hannah  laughed  and  looked  wise. 

"  Master  Tor  had  always  a  spice  too  much  of  his 
grandmother's  temper  in  him  to  get  on  just  as  well 
as  might  have  been — not  but  what  she  thought  a 
good  bit  of  him  when  he  was  here  long  ago.  Ah, 
he  was  a  rare  one  for  mischief,  he  was  ;  I  can't  hardly 
believe  he  is  a  grown  man  by  this.  Well,  "he  will 
find  old  Hannah  remembers  the  things  he  used  to 
like  when  he  was  little.  What  a  life  he  did  lead  me, 
to  be  sure — bless  his  little  heart  !" 


68 

To  the  old  servant  the  big  brother,  who  seemed  a 
man  to  his  small  comrades,  was  nothing  but  a  boy 
himself,  and  Curly  was  almost  scandalised  to  find 
him  spoken  of  in  this  patronising  way.  Tor  was  a 
bit  of  a  hero  in  their  eyes,  and  it  seemed  ridiculous 
to  hear  Hannah  blessing  his  little  heart  as  if  he  had 
been  a  baby. 

However,  she  was  only  too  willing  to  carry  out  any 
plan  for  his  comfort  that  they  liked  to  suggest,  and 
it  was  a  source  of  great  satisfaction  that  his  room 
was  so  near  their  nurseries.  They  would  be  able  to 
pay  him  surreptitious  visits  almost  at  will,  and  if  he 
had  been  at  the  other  side  of  the  house  this  would 
have  been  more  difficult,  as  they  were  not  supposed 
to  be  out  of  their  own  quarters  unless  specially 
invited. 

Next  morning  they  were  in  a  ferment  of  excite- 
ment, and  Phyllis  did  not  get  as  much  steady  help 
out  of  them  as  she  had  done  on  other  occasions. 
She  also  got  a  little  tired  of  the  name  of  the  big 
brother  who  was  to  arrive  that  day,  though  she  tried 
to  be  as  much  interested  in  him  as  her  exacting  little 
companions  seemed  to  expect.  She  was  very  sorry 
for  him ;  but,  to  tell  the  truth,  she  did  not  expect  to 
find  him  much  to  her  taste.  She  had  an  idea  that 
he  would  be  something  like  the  backwoodsmen  she 
had  read  about  in  novels,  very  rough  and  uncouth  in 
his  ways,  and  not  much  of  a  companion  to  any  but 


A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  69 

men  of  his  own  type.  She  thought  it  was  nice  of 
him  to  be  kind  to  the  children,  and  had  encouraged 
her  grandmother  to  ask  him  down,  as  it  seemed 
likely  to  be  a  kindness ;  but  beyond  this  point  her 
interest  had  not  extended,  nor  did  she  suppose  that 
she  should  find  much  in  him  when  he  arrived. 

The  little  boys  had  no  difficulty  in  gaining  leave 
to  go  and  meet  their  brother.  Lady  Chesterton  was 
sending  the  great  landau  and  the  big  bay  horses 
for  him,  and  there  was  plenty  of  room  for  them. 
They  had  not  driven  out  in  such  style  since  their 
arrival  more  than  a  fortnight  ago,  and  mightily 
pleased  they  were  with  themselves  as  they  sat  back 
on  the  cushions,  returning  with  gracious  good-will 
the  salutations  of  the  countryfolk,  who  were  get- 
ting to  know  the  faces  of  the  little  gentlemen  who 
were  stopping  up  at  the  big  house  with  Madam. 

"  I  think  I  know  just  how  the  queen  must  feel 
when  she  drives  in  the  Park,"  remarked  Curly,  com- 
placently, as  he  replaced  his  cap  for  about  the  tenth 
time  on  his  bright  head — for  he  was  a  courteous  little 
gentleman,  and  pulled  it  off  as  politely  to  a  beggar 
or  a  labourer  as  to  the  grand  lady  in  her  carriage  who 
had  favoured  him  with  a  nod.  "  I  don't  wonder  she 
has  a  bowing-machine  in  the  back  of  the  carriage,  as 
the  girls  say  she  has.  It's  a  good  thing  she  doesn't 
have  to  take  her  bonnet  off  too — that's  one  advan- 
tage of  being  a  woman." 


70  A    PAIR    OF  ORIGINALS 

"  I  wonder  how  Tor  will  like  it,"  was  Bunny's 
comment.  "  I  rather  think  perhaps  he'll  call  it  all 
humbug." 

"  Tor  will  do  everything  that  is  proper,"  said  Curly 
with  his  grandest  air.  "  Isn't  it  jolly  that  he's  com- 
ing after  all !  I  wonder  if  Granny  will  like 
him." 

But  sometimes  when  little  folks  have  set  their 
hopes  very  high  they  find  themselves  somewhat 
disappointed  in  the  event ;  and  so  it  was  with  the 
little  brothers  who  had  set  out  in  such  high  spirits 
to  meet  their  hero. 

The  train  came  panting  and  puffing  up,  and  a  few 
people  got  out,  and  amongst  these  they  soon  espied 
the  tall  stalwart  figure  of  Tor,  upon  whom  they 
rushed  with  a  joyous  shout  of  recognition.  But  in- 
stead of  returning  their  greeting  in  his  pleasant  and 
friendly  way,  he  only  turned  round  sharply,  and  told 
them  to  be  off  and  not  bother  him  ;  and  he  looked 
so  different  from  what  they  had  expected,  and 
seemed  so  little  pleased  to  see  them,  that  they  re- 
tired discomfited  to  the  carriage  to  wait  for  him 
there.  Curly  really  felt  quite  offended  at  being 
snubbed  like  that  before  the  railway-porters,  just 
after  they  had  been  doing  so  much  for  him  in  get- 
ting Granny  to  ask  him  down  ;  and  Bunny's  sugges- 
tion that  perhaps  it  was  only  because  his  head  was 
aching  did  not  seem  any  real  explanation. 


A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  71 

"  His  head  ached  in  London,  but  he  was  nice  to 
us  there.  If  he  is  so  cross  at  Granny's,  I  expect 
she'll  just  send  him  home  again.  I  don't  know  what 
she'll  say  to  us  ;  for  we  told  her  he  was  such  a  nice 
Tor,  and  now  he  isn't  nice  a  bit." 

"  Hush  !  here  he  comes.  Why,  he  doesn't  look  a 
bit  like  he  did  when  we  went  away.  Curly,  I  do 
believe  the  girls  have  worried  him  till  he  is  quite  ill. 
Did  you  ever  see  anybody  before  with  such  black 
marks  all  round  their  eyes  ?  And  he's  got  quite 
thin,  too  ;  he  must  have  been  ill — and  that's  what 
makes  him  cross.  Oh,  poor  Tor!  I  don't  mind  what 
he  says,  if  he  is  ill." 

Tor  came  out  slowly  to  the  carriage,  following  the 
porter  who  had  his  portmanteau  in  charge.  It  was 
no  wonder  the  children  thought  him  changed,  for  his 
face  was  perfectly  white,  and  his  eyes  were  sunk  in 
purple  caverns.  He  had  his  hat  pressed  down  upon 
his  brows,  and  when  he  reached  the  carriage  he 
asked  if  it  could  not  be  shut  up. 

So,  instead  of  the  triumphal  entry  the  children  had 
expected,  they  had  to  sit  quite  quiet  on  the  back 
seat,  with  the  heavy  leather  covering  blocking  out  all 
the  light,  and  Tor  opposite,  with  his  eyes  fast  shut, 
knitting  his  brows  with  pain  every  time  they  passed 
over  a  jolting  piece  in  the  road.  Curly  was  quite 
afraid  lest  the  stern  grandmother  should  order  the 
young  man  straight  home  as  soon  as  he  reached 


72  A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

her  house ;  but  he  hoped  for  the  best,  and  manfully 
resolved  to  stand  by  him,  and  if  need  be  to  go 
with  him,  though  it  was  sad  to  think  of  giving  up 
all  the  delights  of  country  life. 

Just  as  the  carriage  paused,  as  it  turned  in  at  the 
Priory  gates,  Tor  looked  up  to  say, 

"  I  don't  mean  to  be  a  bear,  you  little  fellows — 
some  day  I'll  be  able  to  thank  you  ;  but  if  you  only 
knew  what  a  head  I'd  got — "  and  something  very 
like  a  groan  finished  the  sentence. 

Curly  was  quite  satisfied — that  little  faint  smile 
was  Tor  all  over,  and  in  a  great  state  of  wrathful 
pity  at  the  state  in  which  the  girls  had  sent  their 
brother  off  all  alone,  he  flung  himself  from  the  car- 
riage before  it  had  stopped,  and  scampered  off  to 
the  drawing-room  regardless  of  rules. 

"  He's  come,  Granny — he's  come  ;  but  he's  not 
a  bit  like  himself.  I  hope  you'll  excuse  him  and 
not  be  very  cross  if  he  isn't  as  polite  as  you  might 
expect.  Those  girls  have  given  him  such  a  head  : 
but  he'll  be  better  directly  he  gets  here — you  see  if 
he  isn't." 

Lady  Chesterton  rose.  It  was  not  her  way  to  go 
out  to  meet  her  guests,  but  in  this  case  she  made  an 
exception. 

"  Come  along,  Phyl,"  cried  Curly,  pulling  at  her 
hand  ;  "  I'll  explain  to  him  that  you're  not  a  bit  like 
a  girl,  and  then  he'll  like  you  too.  I  would  have 


A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  73 

told  him  on  the  way  here,  only  he  didn't  want  us  to 
talk  about  anything." 

Phyllis,  who  never  could  resist  Curly,  now  her 
devoted  little  cavalier,  rose  to  do  his  bidding,  he 
holding  her  hand  and  chattering  all  the  time,  as 
if  to  make  up  for  his  unwonted  silence  during  the 
drive. 

"  I  hope  Granny  won't  send  him  away.  He  is 
rather  cross,  you  know.  Hannah  says  men  always 
are  when  they're  ill — she  said  they  were  like  bears 
with  sore  heads.  I  wonder  how  she  knows.  I 
wonder  if  she  ever  had  one  to  take  care  of.  Are 
there  any  bears  here  ?  " 

But  they  had  got  into  the  hall  by  this  time,  and 
Phyllis  was  watching  with  a  little  curiosity  the 
greeting  between  her  grandmother  and  the  very 
tall,  broad-shouldered  young  man,  who  looked  at 
first  sight  anything  but  an  invalid. 

"  Well,  Torwood,  so  you  have  found  your  way 
here  at  last.  If  you  had  had  any  sense  you  would 
have  been  here  long  ago.  What  possessed  you  to 
go  to  London  with  that  head  of  yours  in  such  a 
state?  Young  men  have  no  sense." 

"  If  you'd  had  a  spark  of  common  humanity  you 
would  have  asked  me  down  before,"  was  the  reply 
which  sent  a  shiver  through  Bunny's  small  frame. 
"  But  women  are  all  alike — they  can't  bear  to  have  a 
man  poaching  on  their  preserves." 


74  A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

Curly  looked  up  at  Phyllis,  to  find  that  she  was 
laughing,  and  she  squeezed  his  hand  in  token  that 
all  was  right. 

"  My  preserves,  indeed  !  Hoity-hoity !  as  if  I  would 
ever  give  in  to  a  trumpery  headache  !  If  you  were 
half  a  man,  you'd  be  ashamed  to  go  about  with  a 
face  like  that." 

"  I  wish  to  goodness  I  could  change  face  and 
head  and  everything,"  was  the  answer,  as  poor  Tor 
sank  down  into  the  nearest  chair,  literally  unable 
to  stand,  putting  his  head  between  his  hands  the 
better  to  shut  out  the  light.  "  Don't  expect  to  get 
a  rise  out  of  me  just  yet,  but  I'll  be  even  with  you 
at  your  own  game  one  of  these  days,  if  you  can 
put  up  with  the  nuisance  of  me  in  the  mean- 
time." 

And  then  all  in  a  moment  Lady  Chesterton's 
manner  changed  into  something  the  children  had 
never  seen  before.  She  went  up  to  Tor,  and  laid 
her  hand  upon  his  head  with  such  a  gentle  touch 
that  he  did  not  shrink  away. 

"  As  hot  as  fire.  No  wonder  it  is  aching  !  What 
has  the  doctor  been  recommending?  Ice  ?" 

"  I  believe  so  ;  but  there  was  hardly  ever  any 
to  be  had.  I  suppose  it  was  forgotten." 

"  We  will  mend  that  now.  Come  with  me,  Tor- 
wood.  You  shall  not  be  troubled  to  go  upstairs 
yet.  Here  is  a  cool  dark  room  for  you  ;  your  own 


A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  75 

company  and  Hannah's  nursing  is  all  you  need  just 
now." 

Tor  rose,  with  a  few  muttered  words  of  thanks, 
and  for  the  first  time  saw  that  there  was  a  young 
lady  as  well  as  his  grandmother  in  the  hall.  He 
coloured  up  a  little,  for  his  colonial  life  had  given 
him  a  reverence  for  ladies,  and  even  the  household 
he  had  left  had  not  quite  cured  him  of  the  feeling. 

"  My  ward,  Miss  Musgrave,"  said  Lady  Chester- 
ton ;  but  Curly  broke  in  there  with  his  opinion  on 
the  subject. 

"  We  don't  call  her  that — we  call  her  Phyl,  and  I 
dare  say  she'll  let  you  too,  won't  you,  Phyl  ?  She's 
not  a  bit  like  our  girls.  She's  just  as  jolly  as  a 
boy." 

So  Phyl  gave  her  hand  to  Tor  and  laughed,  and 
Tor  tried  to  smile  in  the  midst  of  his  bewilderment 
and  pain  ;  and  then  old  Hannah  appeared  upon  the 
scene,  and  took  command  of  it  at  once. 

"  Gracious  goodness,  Master  Tor !  eh,  but  how 
you  have  grown,  and  what  a  fine-grown  young  man 
you  have  got  to  be  !  But  by  the  looks  of  you  you 
should  be  in  your  bed.  A  fine  lot  of  nurses  they 
must  be  at  your  home  !  We'll  have  a  different  face 
on  you  before  long — won't  we,  my  lady  ?  " 

"  I  hope  so  indeed,  Hannah.  Now  take  him 
away  with  you,  and  see  that  these  young  pickles 
keep  their  distance  till  he  is  fit  to  stand  their  noise, 


?6  A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

which  will  not  be  for  some  time  yet.  Hannah  will 
take  care  of  you,  Torwood,  and  I  will  come  and  see 
how  you  are  getting  on  in  a  short  time.  For  the 
time  being  it  will  be  better  that  you  be  alone  as 
much  as  possible." 

Tor  was  glad  enough  to  follow  the  old  servant 
into  the  shady  library,  and  the  children  followed 
their  grandmother  into  the  drawing-room,  talking  all 
the  while.  Lady  Chesterton's  face  was  so  stern  that 
they  were  afraid  Tor  had  offended  her  in  some  way, 
but  her  first  words  to  Phyl  relieved  them  of  the 
fear. 

"  It's  perfectly  monstrous  the  way  he  has  been 
neglected — doctor's  orders  ignored — left  to  fend  for 
himself — just  because  a  parcel  of  stuck-up  young 
misses  are  too  fond  of  themselves  and  their  own  gay 
doings  to  take  ordinary  common  care  of  a  sick  bro- 
ther. I  should  like  to  give  them  all  a  piece  of  my 
mind — letting  him  travel  alone,  too,  when  he  can 
hardly  hold  up  his  head.  Well,  here  he  is,  and  here 
he  will  remain  as  a  fixture  until  he  is  a  very  differ- 
ent kind  of  man — and  that  will  not  be  in  a  hurry, 
by  the  looks  of  him,  I  should  say.  Why,  it  is  some- 
times years  before  a  man  gets  over  a  thing  of  that 
kind,  even  with  care  and  good  nursing  ;  and  this 
boy  has  been  disgracefully  neglected." 

Curly  nipped  Bunny  by  the  hand  in  congratula- 
tion, and  they  received  a  bright  smile  from  Phyl. 


A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  H 

They  only  longed  to  go  and  tell  Tor  the  good  news, 
but  restrained  themselves  in  consideration  of  what 
grandmother  had  said  just  before. 

In  half  an  hour's  time  old  Hannah  presented  her- 
self with  a  face  full  of  satisfaction. 

"  Yes,  my  lady,  he  has  gone  off  into  a  beautiful 
sleep :  and  that's  more  than  he  has  done  this  ten 
days  and  more,  by  what  I  can  get  out  of  him  for  his 
chaff  and  nonsense — he  was  always  a  boy  for  teasing 
of  his  old  nurse,  that  he  was.  The  ice  to  his  head 
soothed  the  pain  wonderful-like ;  and  would  you  be- 
lieve it,  in  that  fine  house  in  London  the  poor  boy 
never  could  get  hold  of  a  morsel  of  ice — though  it 
was  ordered  particular  for  him  by  the  doctor — with- 
out he  went  out  and  fetched  it  for  himself,  and  that 
he  couldn't  do  when  he  needed  it  most.  All  they 
ever  had  in  the  house  was  wanted  for  company,  and 
he  had  to  do  as  best  he  could,  and  was  stuffed  into 
a  hot  little  hole  where  he  never  could  get  a  bit  of 
sleep  all  night  long.  When  other  folks  had  gone 
to  bed,  he  would  steal  down  into  one  of  the  lower 
rooms  and  lie  there  till  morning,  all  dressed  as  he 
was :  and  that's  the  kind  of  life  he's  been  leading ; 
his  fine  sisters  making  believe  that  there  was  noth- 
ing the  matter  with  him,  and  that  he  was  sulky  and 
disagreeable — a  parcel  of  hussies — "  and  Hannah 
lowered  her  voice  to  a  sort  of  snorting  mutter,  recol- 
lecting that  she  was  speaking  of  her  mistress's  rela- 


7$  A  PAIR  OF  OAIGIMALS 

tions,  though  they  had  done  so  much  to  rouse  her 
ire. 

Hannah  was  a  privileged  person,  and  Lady  Ches- 
terton did  not  check  her,  though  she  made  no 
direct  response  to  this  tirade. 

"  Well,  Hannah,  you  will  be  able  to  show  us  what 
your  skill  can  do.  You  and  these  little  men  will 
have  the  main  charge  of  Mr.  Torwood  until  he  is 
well  enough  to  join  the  family  circle.  You  know 
I  am  no  hand  in  a  sick-room  myself." 

Old  Hannah  looked  as  if  she  knew  no  such  thing, 
but  she  only  curtsied  as  she  withdrew,  and  the  chil- 
dren ran  off  after  her. 

"  Now  we'll  have  our  farm,  and  Hannah  shall 
marry  Tor  and  come  and  take  care  of  us  all,"  cried 
Curly.  "  Do  let  us  go  and  see  poor  Tor.  We  won't 
make  any  noise  to  wake  him." 

After  one  peep  into  the  darkened  room,  the  chil-- 
dren  ran  off  to  their  tea  upstairs,  but  were  too 
excited  to  remain  quiet  long,  and  by-and-by  raced 
down  into  the  garden,  from  which  vantage-ground 
they  could  prospect  about  the  house  better  and 
were  not  often  scolded  for  intruding,  even  though 
they  were  not  supposed  to  come  to  the  front  of  the 
house  without  leave. 

Tor  was  no  longer  in  the  library — that  they  found 
out  by  peering  in  at  the  open  window ;  and  presently 
they  were  sure  they  heard  his  voice  proceeding  from 


A   PA  IK   Of  ORIGINALS  79 

the  drawing-room,  and  so  they  crept  along  the  ter- 
race to  make  sure,  and  were  presently  peeping  in 
unnoticed  at  the  door-window  that  opened  to  the 
ground. 

Tor  was  on  the  sofa,  looking  very  pale,  yet  more 
like  his  old  self  than  they  had  expected  to  see  him 
so  soon,  and  Phyl  was  pouring  out  the  tea  from  the 
old  silver  service,  in  the  dainty  way  that  was  charac- 
teristic of  her.  Her  eyes  were  full  of  laughing  light, 
for  Tor  was  absolutely  teasing  and  chaffing  his 
grandmother,  just  as  Hannah  said  he  teased  her, 
and  the  little  boys  held  their  breath  to  listen,  half 
frightened,  yet  wholly  fascinated. 

"  Failed — of  course  I  failed.  What  could  you  ex- 
pect of  a  fellow  who  had  picked  up  his  farming  in 
the  school  I  did  ?  "  Tor  was  saying  when  the  chil- 
dren first  began  to  listen.  "  I  tried  to  fit  your  pet 
theories  to  everything,  Granny,  and  a  lordly  mess  I 
made  of  it.  What  fellow  with  any  sense  in  his  head 
would  ever  have  been  so  deluded  as  to  think  a 
woman  understood  how  to  farm  ?  " 

"Anyway,  I've  not  failed  and  you  have.  Don't 
talk  to  me,  you  impertinent  boy." 

"  Ah  !  and  how  much  capital  have  you  behind 
you,  to  pay  up  your  losses  with  in  a  quiet  way,  so 
that  no  one  is  any  the  wiser  for  it  ?  "  asked  Tor;  and 
then  there  was  a  regular  battle  of  words,  which  the 
children  could  not  understand,  but  which  proved  to 


8o  A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

them  very  clearly  that  their  brother  and  their  grand- 
mother fully  understood  one  another,  and  that  they 
were  excellent  friends.  And  being  satisfied  on  this 
point,  they  crept  away  again  without  presenting 
themselves. 

"  Oh,  isn't  it  jolly ! "  cried  Curly,  ecstatically. 
"  Now  we  shall  all  live  together  ever  so  long  ;  and 
perhaps  grandmother  will  give  Tor  a  farm  of  his 
own,  and  he'll  let  us  live  with  him  and  help  him 
to  take  care  of  it." 


CHAPTER  V 

DiNG-DONG  !  ding-dong  !  ding-dong  ! 

"  There  is  the  bell,  Curly.  Finish  your  breakfast 
quick,  or  we  shall  be  late." 

"  I've  done,  but  I  want  to  go  and  see  Tor  first." 

"  You'd  better  not.  You'll  get  talking  and  be 
late,  and  Granny  does  not  like  that." 

"  Oh,  I  won't  be  late ;  but  I  should  like  to  see 
Tor  first." 

"  So  should  I,  but  I  think  we  ought  to  go  now. 
I'm  going  ;  won't  you  come  too?  " 

"  Presently ;  I'll  not  be  late,"  answered  Curly, 
who  had  less  conscientiousness  than  his  elder 
brother,  and  was  rather  fond  of  asserting  his  inde- 
pendence at  times.  So  Bunny,  seeing  it  useless  to 
protest  farther,  ran  off  to  the  little  chapel  alone, 
and  Curly  got  down  from  his  chair,  and  ran  across 
the  corridors  to  the  door  of  Tor's  bedroom,  which 
was  shut  but  not  locked. 

He  thought  his  brother  might  be  asleep,  and 
looked  cautiously  in  ;  but  Tor  had  been  awakened 
from  the  tardy  sleep  which  had  only  come  to  him 

81 


2  A   PAIR   OF   ORIGINALS 

in  the  early  morning  by  the  clang  of  the  bell,  and 
as  soon  as  he  saw  Curly  he  cried  out  to  him : 

"  I  say,  what  is  that  confounded  noise  about,  and 
how  long  does  it  go  on  ?  " 

"  You  mustn't  call  it  that,"  answered  Curly. 
"Granny  would  be  angry  if  she  heard  you.  That 
is  the  chapel  bell.  It  rings  every  morning  for  ten 
minutes,  I  think.  Don't  you  like  it?" 

Tor's  face  expressed  his  distress  better  than  any 
words  could  do.  In  choosing  the  situation  of  his 
room,  nobody  had  recollected  the  matin  bell.  The 
chapel  was  near  to  the  oldest  and  coolest  part  of 
the  house,  and  the  vibration  and  clangour  might  be 
unpleasant  even  to  heads  in  a  less  irritable  condi- 
tion than  poor  Tor's. 

"  Chapel  bell !"  he  muttered,  between  his  clenched 
teeth.  "  Do  you  mean  there  is  a  private  chapel  on 
the  place  ?  " 

"  Oh  yes ;  and  Mr.  Condover  or  Mr.  Dalrymple 
comes  every  day  to  read  the  service  there,  and  lots 
of  the  people  come  too.  It's  tiresome  sometimes, 
but  I  like  it,  rather.  Granny  and  Phyl  always  go. 
Didn't  you  know  about  it,  Tor?  Didn't  they  do  it 
when  you  were  a  little  boy?" 

"  Not  they — the  days  for  such  tomfoolery  hadn't 
come  then." 

Curly  stood  half-aghast,  half-delighted  at  such  an 
indication  of  independent  opinion.  He  always  felt 


A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  83 

a  deep  admiration  for  his  big  brother's  expressions 
of  criticism  on  what  went  on,  but  he  hardly  ex- 
pected that  Granny's  doings  would  be  treated  with 
the  same  contempt  as  those  of  "  the  girls." 

"  Sha'n't  you  go — I  mean  when  you  are  up  in 
time?"  he  aske'd  with  great  interest. 

Tor  was  in  no  mood  to  weigh  his  words,  or  to 
consider  how  they  would  strike  a  child.  The  bell 
was  bringing  back  the  raging  pain  in  his  head  that 
the  few  hours'  sleep  had  taken  away,  and  not  un- 
naturally his  nerves  were  too  much  on  edge  for  him 
to  care  greatly  what  he  said  or  did. 

"I  go  to  a  parcel  of  parson's  rubbish  like  that? 
Not  I !  I  should  have  thought  Granny  would  have 
had  more  sense  than  to  institute  such  a  thing  on 
her  property.  But  women  are  always  ready  to  let 
themselves  be  priest-ridden.  Can  nothing  be  done 
to  stop  that  horrible  noise  ?  " 

"  It  will  stop  directly  now  of  itself,"  answered 
Curly,  settling  himself  on  the  side  of  Tor's  bed. 
"  I  sha'n't  go  this  morning.  I  don't  care  for  tom- 
foolery myself." 

It  was  rather  a  relief  to  find  somebody  who 
countenanced  his  own  vague  feeling  that  the  morn^ 
ing  service  was  something  of  a  nuisance.  True, 
Granny  had  made  the  little  boys  quite  free  to  go  or 
stay  away  as  they  pleased.  She  knew  that  they 
might  very  likely  feel  wearied  by  something  that 


84  A   PAIR  Of  OKIGINALS 

was  quite  new  to  them,  and  she  had  a  great  feeling 
against  making  into  a  trouble  what  ought  to  be 
regarded  as  a  privilege ;  but  the  prayers  were  not 
really  long  or  wearisome,  there  was  something  fas- 
cinating to  the  children  in  the  novelty  of  a  daily 
service,  and  the  pleasure  that  others  took  in  it 
helped  them  to  see  it  in  favourable  colours  them 
selves.  Moreover,  Bunny,  who  was  less  restless  and 
more  naturally  devout  than  his  younger  brother, 
really  enjoyed  it,  especially  the  music ;  and  Phyllis 
let  him  blow  for  her  now,  which  added  to  his 
pleasure  and  sense  of  importance,  so  that  he  never 
wished  to  absent  himself  on  any  excuse,  and  it  had 
not  occurred  to  Curly  to  do  so  either ;  but  now  that 
the  idea  had  been  presented  to  him,  he  was  not 
slow  to  avail  himself  of  it.  He  would  stay  with 
Tor — nobody  could  blame  him  for  that. 

The  bell  ceased  its  call,  and  in  the  relief  of  the 
silence  that  succeeded  Tor  felt  a  momentary  qualm 
at  the  hasty  expressions  he  had  allowed  to  fall  from 
his  lips. 

"You  mustn't  displease  Granny  just  because  of 
what  I  say,"  he  remarked.  "  Does  she  expect  you 
always  to  go?" 

"  She  said  we  could  please  ourselves — that  it  was 
not  a  thing  to  do  unwillingly.  We've  always  been. 
Bunny  likes  it.  You  know  he  always  was  rather 
soft — you've  often  said  so  yourself." 


A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  85 

Tor's  head  was  aching  too  severely  for  him  quite 
to  see  the  drift  of  his  small  companion's  thoughts — 
how  he  was  mentally  setting  himself  and  his  big 
brother  on  a  different  level  from  the  rest  of  the 
household,  in  right  of  their  not  caring  for  the  things 
which  so  engrossed  the  women.  Curly  had  a  large 
share  of  the  feeling  so  common  to  the  youthful 
masculine  mind,  that  there  is  something  almost  con- 
temptible in  womankind  generally,  and  that  it  is  a 
fine  thing  to  look  down  upon  them  and  their  pur- 
suits and  occupations.  This  feeling  had  been  fos- 
tered by  much  that  he  had  seen  in  his  own  home ; 
and  though  it  had  been  laid  aside  for  a  time  in 
the  admiration  he  could  not  but  feel  for  his  grand- 
mother's house  and  her  ways  of  conducting  things, 
it  was  ready  to  spring  up  again  on  the  first  oppor- 
tunity ;  and  as  soon  as  he  was  shut  up  with  Tor  he 
began  to  feel  that  women  were  a  very  superfluous 
adjunct  to  creation. 

It  could  hardly  be  expected  that  a  young  man 
like  Tor  could  follow  the  workings  of  the  child's 
mind,  or  see  what  such  a  feeling  might  lead  to. 
Curly  was  regarded  as  a  little  playfellow,  whose 
original  speeches  were  to  be  laughed  at,  and  his 
odd  assumption  of  importance  rather  encouraged 
than  checked ;  and  as  he  uttered  this  criticism  of 
his  brother,  Tor  could  not  but  laugh — it  sounded  so 
very  patronising  in  his  mouth. 


86  A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

"  Well,  you  are  not  soft  for  your  years,  at  any  rate. 
I  say,  Curly,  is  there  such  a  thing  as  a  cup  of  tea  to 
be  had  in  the  establishment  at  such  an  hour?  " 

"  I'm  afraid  not  till  service  is  over — at  least  not  a 
fresh  cup.  But  I'll  get  you  one  from  our  breakfast 
— it  will  be  better  than  nothing.  And  when 
Hannah  comes  back,  she'll  make  you  some  fresh." 

"  Bother  the  service !  "  was  Tor's  muttered  com- 
plaint. "  I  might  almost  as  well  have  stayed  at 
home.  I  could  get  tea  in  the  morning  even  there.'' 

"  I'll  get  you  some — I'll  make  it  for  you  myself/ 
cried  Curly,  roused  to  great  zeal  by  his  brother's 
state  of  irritable  suffering,  which  he  could  see  with- 
out fully  understanding.  It  had  been  partly  their 
doing  that  Tor  had  come  here  at  all  to  be  made 
well ;  it  would  never  do  for  him  to  think  that  he 
would  have  been  better  off  in  his  own  house  with 
those  girls. 

So  Curly  dashed  off  to  the  kitchen — just  now 
deserted — and  proceeded  to  make  a  fine  mess  there, 
turning  out  cupboards,  ransacking  drawers,  and  leav- 
ing traces  of  his  presence  all  over  the  place,  before 
he  found  the  tea,  which  was  all  the  time  in  a  caddy 
under  his  very  nose.  He  lugged  the  big  kettle  on 
to  the  fire,  and  got  the  best  silver  tea-pot  out  of  the 
pantry,  and  broke  one  of  the  best  Worcester  tea- 
cups in  rooting  about  there.  He  was  in  such  a 
hurry  that  he  could  not  stay  to  put  anything  back ; 


MAKING  TEA, 


Page  86 


A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  87 

and  then  the  kettle  would  not  boil,  and  he  began 
poking  at  the  fire,  and  managed  to  upset  a  saucepan 
that  was  standing  on  the  oven  ;  and  such  a  mess  as 
the  kitchen  was  in  by  the  time  the  servants  came 
back  had  seldom  been  seen  there  before. 

"  I  can't  think  why  you  all  go  out  together,  and 
leave  things  to  do  themselves,"  said  the  child  with 
an  injured  air,  as  the  cook  stood  looking  about  her 
in  bewilderment  and  dismay.  "  I  want  some  tea 
for  my  brother,  and  everybody  had  gone  off  to  that 
old  chapel.  I  call  it  quite  silly." 

Luckily  for  Curly,  he  was  a  favourite  in  the  lower 
regions,  and  had  got  a  reputation  for  saying  queer 
things,  so  that  nobody  scolded  him ;  though  old 
Hannah  shook  her  head,  and  said  that  that  was 
not  the  way  that  little  gentlemen  ought  to  speak. 
However,  cook  soon  managed  to  make  the  kettle 
boil,  and  he  was  allowed  to  carry  up  a  cup  of  tea, 
Hannah  saying  that  she  would  bring  the  invalid  his 
breakfast,  and  that  she  had  hoped  he  would  have 
slept  on  till  now,  as  she  had  found  him  asleep  when 
she  had  looked  in  at  eight  o'clock  that  morning. 

"  It  was  the  old  bell  that  woke  him  up,"  answered 
Curly,  "  and  it  has  made  his  head  as  bad  as  ever." 

"  Dear,  dear!  to  think  we  should  none  of  us  have 
thought  of  that  !  Well,  I  am  sorry.  But  we  must 
see  what  can  be  done  another  morning.  I'll  come 
and  see  to  him  in  a  moment,  Master  Curly." 


88  A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

Curly  went  off  with  his  cup,  only  to  find  that  the 
long  delay  had  tried  Tor's  nerves  a  good  deal.  He 
was  not  nearly  so  good-tempered,  the  child  thought, 
as  he  had  been  in  town,  and  he  scolded  Hannah 
when  she  came,  and  would  not  touch  what  she 
had  brought  to  tempt  his  appetite,  and  persisted, 
after  drinking  one  cup  of  tea,  on  getting  up,  though 
she  strongly  advised  him  to  stay  in  bed  and  try 
to  sleep  again. 

"  And  be  woke  up  by  another  of  your  bells,  just  as 
one  is  beginning  to  get  a  little  peace?  No,  thank 
you  ;  I  have  had  enough  of  that.  It  is  worse  than 
not  sleeping  at  all  to  be  awakened  by  such  a  horrible 
noise,  after  counting  pretty  well  every  hour  as  it 
passes,  all  night.  No  more  of  it  for  me,  thank  you." 

However,  Tor  accepted  his  small  brother's  services 
as  valet,  for  he  had  hardly  strength  to  wait  upon 
himself,  and  was  in  no  mood  to  be  beholden  to  his 
grandmother's  servants.  Curly  was  proud  of  being 
promoted  to  this  position,  though  he  suffered  rather 
from  what  Hannah  called  "  the  rough  side  of  his 
tongue,"  and  did  not  understand  as  well  as  she  did 
that  a  patient  on  the  verge  of  a  nervous  fever  is 
not  the  pleasantest  or  the  most  complaint  of  com- 
panions to  deal  with. 

Curly's  stories  were  listened  to  with  scant  atten- 
tion, and  his  questions  answered  in  a  way  that  was, 
to  say  the  least  of  it,  not  too  intelligible. 


A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  89 

"You  know,  Tor,  Bunny  and  I  mean  to  have  a 
farm  of  our  own  one  of  these  days.  We  watch 
everything  the  farm-men  do,  so  that  we  may  under- 
stand what  to  do  when  we  have  ours.  I  wish  we 
could  really  help.  But  they  only  laugh  when  we  tell 
them  so.  What  could  we  really  do  to  make  our- 
selves useful  ?  You  must  know — you  had  a  farm  of 
your  own  once,  you  know." 

"  Turn  the  cattle  into  the  hayfields,  if  you  want 
to  please  them  thoroughly,"  answered  Tor,  in  his 
lazy,  languid  way.  And  Curly  made  a  mental  note 
of  this,  and  returned  to  the  charge,  wondering  if  his 
brother  would  ever  be  like  himself  again,  and  if  he 
would  really  teach  them  how  to  turn  into  farmers. 

"  Phyl  has  what  she  calls  a  poultry-farm,"  he 
said,  standing  by  the  toilet-table  whilst  his  brother 
shaved,  and  wondering  when  he  should  be  old 
enough  to  go  through  that  mysterious  process. 
"  She  has  a  lot  of  wire  '  runs,'  as  she  calls  them, 
places  wired  in  all  by  themselves,  and  they  can 
be  moved  about  in  the  field,  so  as  to  change  the 
ground  for  them.  She  has  different  sorts  of  chickens 
in  each  wire  place.  She  tells  us  their  names,  only  I 
forget  them  so  soon.  Why  do  they  all  live  apart, 
Tor,  and  what  would  happen  if  they  all  got  mixed 
up  together  ?" 

"  You'd  better  try  and  see,"  answered  Tor,  who 
found  it  easier  to  tease  Curly  than  to  answer  his 


90  A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

questions.  "  Don't  you  know  what  a  fuss  girls 
always  make  about  nothing  ?  I  suppose  this  Phyllis, 
as  you  call  her,  has  nothing  else  to  do  than  fool 
round  after  her  chickens?" 

Curly  shook  his  head  doubtfully. 

"  Phyl  does  a  good  lot  of  things,  but  after  all 
she's  only  a  girl.  I  suppose  she  can't  have  much 
sense,  really." 

"  Not  likely,  is  it  ?  Well,  I  suppose  I  must  pay 
my  respects  to  the  ladies  now,  and  then  we'll  find  a 
cool,  quiet  corner  for  ourselves  somewhere,  and  I'll 
try  to  sleep  myself  into  a  better  temper." 

"  Oh,  I  thought  you  were  rather  cross ;  but  you 
always  know  when  you  are,  which  is  such  a  comfort. 
The  girls  are  as  cross  as  two  sticks,  but  they  always 
think  it  is  somebody  else." 

Tor  followed  his  brother  downstairs,  and  finding 
nobody  in  the  house,  they  went  out  into  the  garden, 
and  presently  encountered  the  ladies  coming  back 
from  the  inspection  of  the  farm-premises. 

Tor  was  looking  seedy  and  shaken  enough  to 
bring  upon  his  head  a  sharp  reprimand  for  being  so 
foolish  as  to  be  wandering  about  out  of  doors  in  the 
heat ;  and  after  an  attempt  to  pass  himself  off  as 
perfectly  well,  he  admitted  that  shade  and  rest  were 
pleasanter  than  anything  else,  and  was  established 
under  the  biggest  of  the  big  cedar-trees,  to  stay 
there  till  it  was  fit  for  him  to  move  about  again. 


A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  91 

The  children  spent  most  of  the  day  with  him,  and 
Lady  Chesterton  and  Phyllis  brought  their  books 
and  needlework  out  there  in  the  afternoon ;  and  it 
amused  the  little  brothers  very  much  to  hear  Tor 
tease  their  grandmother  and  answer  her  sharp 
speeches  with  words  quite  as  keen  as  her  own.  It 
seemed  as  if  she  enjoyed  it  too,  for  she  laughed  as 
much  as  anybody  at  some  of  the  attacks  made  upon 
her.  And  she  made  Tor  talk  of  himself,  too, 
and  his  doings  in  Australia,  and  the  causes  which 
had  brought  about  the  downfall  of  his  hopes  of 
success ;  and  they  thought  that  she  seemed  to  see 
that  the  fault  had  not  been  his,  and  was  quite  on  his 
side  when  he  said  that  but  for  the  stroke  he  had 
had,  which  had  made  his  friends  ship  him  back  to 
England,  whether  he  would  or  no,  he  might  have  re- 
trieved his  former  position  and  made  up  the  losses 
he  had  sustained. 

"  But  I  had  no  choice  in  the  matter,  and  here 
I  am,  a  useless  log — and  whether  I  am  ever  good  for 
anything  again  seems  a  very  doubtful  thing.  And 
in  these  enlightened  days  nothing  can  be  done  with- 
out passing  no  end  of  examinations — and  a  nice 
fellow  I  should  be  over  books,  should  I  not  ?  " 

"You  ought  to  get  a  land-agency — that  would, 
not  want  examinations,"  answered  the  grandmother 
"  and  that  is  what  you  are  best  fitted  for." 

"  Such  berths  are  not  picked  up  every  day,  and 


92  A   PAIR  OF  ORIGINALS 

there  are  no  end  of  fellows  after  them — fellows  from 
the  Agricultural  College,  with  certificates  and  all 
that  at  their  backs.  My  only  certificate  is  one  of 
failure  out  there.  Is  it  likely  anyone  would  trust 
me  with  his  affairs,  when  I  have  so  muddled  my 
own  ?  " 

Bunny  and  Curly  listened  to  everything  without 
entirely  understanding.  But  they  understood  this 
much — that  Tor,  though  he  always  made  light  of  it 
in  one  way,  was  not  at  all  happy,  and  didn't  know 
what  was  to  become  of  him  ;  and  they  thought  it 
quite  strange  that  Granny  did  not  at  once  give 
him  one  of  her  farms,  and  let  him  live  there  and 
manage  it  for  her,  and  help  her  with  her  own.  For 
she  was  certainly  getting  rather  old  to  see  after  so 
much  land.  They  had  heard  her  say  so  to  Phyllis, 
and  whom  could  she  find  better  to  help  her  than 
Tor? 

Perhaps  it  was  because  he  was  rather  unhappy 
that  poor  Tor  was  so  irritable  sometimes.  The  little 
boys  tried  not  to  feel  disappointed  at  the  result  of 
their  good  offices  toward  their  big  brother,  and 
there  were  times  when  Tor's  company  was  very 
agreeable  and  amusing ;  but  there  were  also  days 
on  which  it  was  anything  but  pleasant  to  be 
much  with  him;  and  though  he  generally  tried  to 
make  up  afterwards  for  his  sharp  speeches,  and 
they  knew  it  was  all  the  fault  of  his  aching  head 


A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  93 

that  he  spoke  in  that  way  to  them,  still  it  was 
disconcerting,  and  made  them  rather  afraid  some- 
times to  approach  him. 

On  one  of  the  days  when  he  had  sent  them  away, 
and  they  had  hardly  seen  him  since  morning,  Curly 
wandered  into  Phyl's  room  just  as  she  had  finished 
dressing  for  dinner,  to  communicate  some  of  his 
woes  to  her,  for  he  always  thought  that  she  under- 
stood Tor.  He  was  never  cross  to  her,  and  his 
face  often  lighted  up  when  she  came  near,  and  he 
did  not  quarrel  with  her,  as  he  often  did  with 
his  grandmother.  He  let  the  children  talk  to  him 
about  Phyl  as  much  as  they  pleased,  and  he 
seemed  to  like  her  quite  as  much  as  they  did, 
though  she  was  a  girl. 

"  Why,  what  a  dismal  face,  my  little  viking ! " 
cried  Phyllis,  as  she  saw  him  come  in.  "  What  is 
the  matter,  Curly?" 

"  I  think  everything  is  the  matter,"  was  the  com- 
prehensive answer.  "  I  don't  enjoy  anything  a  bit 
now — and  it  all  used  to  be  so  nice." 

Phyllis  was  sitting  on  the  cushioned  seat  of  the 
oriel  window  with  a  little  red-edged  book  in  her 
hand.  There  was  yet  a  quarter  of  an  hour  before 
dinner — plenty  of  time  to  inquire  into  Curly's 
troubles. 

"  And  what  has  come  to  spoil  the  pleasure  ?" 

"  That's  what  I  don't  know.      I  thought  it  would 


94  A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

be  so  nice  when  Tor  came,  but  it  hasn't  been  a  bit 
what  we  expected.  He  can't  teach  us  any  of  the 
things  we  want  to  know,  and  often  he  is  cross  if  we 
speak  a  single  word.  And  things  that  used  to 
seem  nice  are  all  spoilt  now,  and  I  feel  heavy 
and  miserable  all  down ;"  and  he  passed  his  hand 
all  over  his  small  person.  "  And  it  used  to  be  all 
so  nice.  Is  it  because  Tor  is  cross  that  everything 
is  different  ?  " 

"  I  do  not  see  any  reason  why  that  should  spoil 
your  pleasure  altogether.  We  are  all  sorry  for  poor 
Tor  and  his  bad  headaches,  and  we  should  like  to 
see  them  cured  faster;  but  when  people  have  been 
ill  and  neglected  so  long,  it  takes  a  long  time  to  get 
matters  right  again  ;  and  this  very  hot  weather  is 
against  him.  But  he  is  better  and  stronger  than 
when  he  came,  though  you  do  not  see  much  change 
from  day  to  day.  You  know  he  does  not  mean  to  be 
cross,  but  when  his  head  is  bad  he  can  hardly  help  it." 

"  I  know,"  answered  Curly;  "  but  it  doesn't  make 
it  any  nicer.  We  wanted  to  have  such  fun,  and  we 
never  have  fun  at  all." 

"Oh,  Curly,  Curly!  when  you  do  as  you  please 
from  morning  till  night,  and  have  no  lessons  and 
everything  that  you  want." 

Curly  looked  up  inquiringly  into  Phyl's  bright 
face.  He  knew  that  this  was  all  true,  but  why  was 
he  so  discontented  ? 


A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  95 

Phyllis  saw  the  question  in  his  eyes,  and  answered 
it  by  another. 

"  Why  are  you  never  at  prayers  now,  Curly  ?  " 

"  I  go  to  stay  with  Tor  then." 

"  Does  he  want  you  ?" 

"  I  don't  know.  But  the  bell  always  wakes  him 
up  and  gives  him  a  horrid  headache.  I  go  to  see  if 
he  is  better.  But  he  is  always  as  bad  as  ever  before 
the  bell  stops,  and  that  makes  us  both  cross." 

Phyllis  looked  surprised. 

"  Why  didn't  you  or  he  tell  Granny  before  ?" 

"  He  said  I  wasn't  to.  He  hates  to  make  a  fuss. 
He  wouldn't  let  Hannah  speak,  either." 

"  It  would  have  been  more  sensible  to  have  done 
so.  No  wonder  he  does  not  get  on,  if  that  happens 
every  day.  I  will  see  about  it.  But  that  does  not 
quite  account  for  your  never  coming  to  chapel, 
Curly." 

"  Tor  said  it  was  all  tomfoolery,"  answered  the 
child  with  a  certain  finality  in  his  tone.  "  It  does 
very  well  for  women  and  girls,  but  men  don't  care 
for  that  sort  of  thing." 

"What  sort  of  thing,  Curly?" 

The  child  wriggled  about  a  little. 

"  Oh,  you  know — such  a  lot  of  prayers  and 
stuff." 

"  Do  you  mean  you  do  not  say  any  prayers  at  all, 
Curly?" 


96  A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

"  Oh  yes,  I  say  mine ;  but  Tor  doesn't,  though — at 
least  I  don't  believe  he  does ;  I  never  see  him." 

"It  is  not  likely  that  you  would.  But  we  have 
nothing  to  do  with  Tor.  You  say  your  own  still  ?" 

"  Oh  yes;  Bunny  reminds  me  if  I  forget." 

"And  what  do  you  pray  for?" 

"  Oh,  to  be  a  good  boy  and  all  that  sort  of  thing — 
what  nurse  taught  us,  and  what  we've  put  on  our- 
selves. You're  in  now,  Phyl,  and  Granny  too ;  but 
I've  left  out  the  girls,  because  there  are  such  a  lot  of 
them  and  I  don't  care  for  them." 

Phyllis  did  not  make  any  direct  comment  on  this 
omission,  but  kept  to  the  point  in  hand. 

"You  would  not  like  to  miss  your  own  prayers, 
Curly?" 

"  N — no ;  I  think  I  should  feel  naughty  if  I  did." 

"You  feel  that  they  help  you  to  be  good  ?" 

"  I  think  they  must.  I  believe  if  we  forget  them 
we  are  worse." 

"  And  on  the  days  you  are  good  you  are  generally 
happiest,  are  you  not?" 

"  I  think  so  ;  at  least  we  used  to  be.  I  don't  feel 
so  happy  as  I  did  once." 

"  No,  Curly ;  and  I  think  I  can  tell  you  partly  why 
not." 

"Oh  why,  Phyl?" 

"  Because  you  do  not  begin  your  day  in  a  nice 
way.  Instead  of  coming  with  us  to  God's  house 


A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  97 

to  put  yourself  into  His  hands  when  we  meet  all 
together  to  dedicate  the  day  to  Him,  you  keep 
away  just  for  your  own  amusement.  And  not  con- 
tent with  staying  away,  you  try  to  think  it  is  fine 
and  manly  to  look  down  on  other  people.  If  that 
is  the  way  you  begin  your  day,  I  do  not  wonder 
that  you  are  not  happy." 

Curly  looked  up  wonderingly. 

"Tor  said  so." 

"  Does  that  make  it  true?" 

"  I — I  thought  a  man  would  be  sure  to  know 
best." 

"Oh,  Curly,  Curly,  what  an  answer!  Do  you  not 
know  what  Man  it  was  who  bade  us  watch  and  pray 
— who  has  told  us  to  pray  without  ceasing,  and  has 
promised  that  where  two  or  three  are  gathered 
together  in  His  name,  there  will  He  be  in  the  midst 
of  them?" 

The  child  looked  struck  and  awed. 

"  Is  it  wicked  not  to  go  to  church  every  day  ?"  he 
asked.  "  Nobody  does  at  home." 

"  No,  Curly.  I  did  not  mean  you  to  think  that — 
only  to  look  upon  such  services  as  a  great  help,  not 
to  be  spoken  of  with  scorn  when  we  remember  in 
whose  name  we  are  met  together.  It  may  not  be 
the  privilege  of  many  people  to  be  able  to  go  day 
by  day  into  God's  house,  and  they  may  be  as  near  to 
Him  in  their  daily  tasks  as  we  are ;  but  for  us,  who 


98  A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

hear  the  daily  call,  to  neglect  or  despise  it  shows 
that  we  must  hold  our  Master's  word  but  lightly^ 
In  this  world,  where  we  are  surrounded  by  so  many 
temptations  and  by  so  much  that  is  evil,  is  it  not 
a  happy  thing  to  be  able  to  go  to  Him  often  in  the 
holy  house  sanctified  to  His  service,  where  He  has 
promised  to  meet  and  to  bless  us?  Do  you  under- 
stand a  little  what  I  mean,  my  dear  little  boy?" 

"  I  think  I  do,"  answered  the  child,  slowly.  "  I 
will  not  laugh  any  more.  I  think  I  will  come  to 
prayers  again.  Perhaps  I  shall  feel  happier  inside  if 
I  do." 


CHAPTER  VI 

NEXT  morning,  to  the  great  surprise  of  the  chil- 
dren, no  bell  rang  out  at  the  usual  time,  and  Hannah 
came  to  tell  them  that  notice  had  been  given  that 
for  a  time  there  would  be  no  summons  ;  the  congre- 
gation must  assemble  without  it.  Curly  was  greatly 
impressed  at  this  piece  of  intelligence,  and  went  to 
chapel  as  usual  with  Bunny,  not  unmindful  of  the 
words  he  had  heard  the  previous  day,  which  he  had 
turned  over  many  times  in  his  wise  little  head,  and 
had  imparted  to  Bunny,  who  wished  he  had  heard 
them  himself. 

The  congregation  had  not  fallen  off  at  all  on  ac- 
count of  the  lack  of  the  warning  bell ;  and  as  Curly 
sat  in  his  nook  and  looked  round  the  beautiful  little 
building,  through  the  stained  windows  of  which  the 
morning  sun  was  pouring  with  so  much  glory,  he 
felt  more  than  he  had  ever  done  before  that  it 
was  God's  house  he  was  in,  and  that  He  must  like 
to  see  humble  worshippers  met  together  in  His 
name,  and  that  He  would  certainly  be  with  them 

99 


100  A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

in  so  sacred  a  spot,  and  would  give  them  His  espe- 
cial blessing  there. 

So  he  joined  in  the  service  with  more  earnestness 
than  usual,  and  followed  it  as  he  had  seldom  cared 
to  do  before.  The  time  seemed  thus  to  slip  away 
very  quickly ;  and  as  they  came  out  he  got  hold  of 
Phyl's  hand,  and  whispered  that  he  did  not  believe 
he  should  ever  think  it  tiresome  again,  now  that 
he  understood  better  what  it  meant. 

Her  answer  was  a  very  bright  smile,  and  alto- 
gether the  child  felt  that  his  day  had  begun  well. 

As  for  Tor,  the  difference  that  this  new  arrange- 
ment made  in  him  was  something  wonderful.  In- 
stead of  waking  with  a  headache  only  a  few  hours 
after  he  had  got  off  to  sleep,  he  slept  quietly  till 
noon,  and  woke  up  refreshed  and  without  the  least 
headache  or  distress.  He  came  down  to  lunch, 
half  ashamed  of  his  lateness,  but  looking  so  much 
brighter  and  better  that  they  all  exclaimed  at  his 
improved  appearance,  and  Lady  Chesterton  by 
close  cross-examination  drew  from  him  the  infor- 
mation that  he  had  got  into  such  a  habit  of  bad 
sleeping  that  he  seldom  even  dozed  off  until  long 
after  daylight,  and  that  hitherto,  owing  to  the 
morning  bell,  his  nights  had  been  of  only  a  couple 
of  hours'  duration,  or  thereabouts,  at  least  so  far  as 
sleep  itself  had  been  concerned.  Now  and  again  he 
had  been  able  to  get  a  nap  by  day ;  but  this  was  the 


A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  IOI 

exception  rather  than  the  rule,  and  for  the  most  part 
he  had  been  suffering  from  lack  of  sleep,  which 
had  done  away  with  much  of  the  good  of  the  fresh 
air  and  kind  care  he  received. 

"You  stupid  fellow!  and  why  did  you  not  say 
something?  " 

"  I  did  not  wish  to  criticise  your  ladyship's  arrange- 
ments." 

"  Just  like  a  man — to  go  growling  and  grumping 
all  his  time,  hardly  fit  to  hold  up  his  head,  whilst 
the  mischief  could  be  remedied  by  half-a-dozen 
words.  Really  the  stupidity  of  menfolk  passes 
belief.  It  is  a  continual  revelation  to  me." 

Curly's  eyes  were  opened  wide  in  astonishment. 

"At  our  house  it's  just  the  other  way — it's  the 
girls  who  are  so  stupid.  I  thought  men  had  all  the 
sense." 

"  No  doubt  you  did,  my  dear  ;  it  is  away  your  sex 
has ;  but  do  you  think  one  of  your  sisters  would 
have  gone  on  enduring  all  the  misery  of  broken 
nights  and  distracted  mornings,  rather  than  speak  a 
single  word  to  have  things  set  to  rights?" 

"  Not  they.  They  would  have  made  an  awful 
fuss  directly." 

"  And  shown  their  good  sense  by  doing  so.  I've 
no  patience  with  the  folly  of  men — it  passes 
belief." 

"  If  it  had  been  for  anything  else,  perhaps  I  would 


102  A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

have  spoken,"  said  Tor ;  "  but  the  chapel-bell  seemed 
a  thing  that  could  not  be  interfered  with." 

"  Stuff  and  nonsense  !  I  should  hope  any  bell  that 
was  hurting  sick  folks  could  be  stopped  without 
harm  to  anybody.  So  far  as  I  know  it  is  only  the 
Salvation  Army  who  refuse  to  hold  their  peace  in 
face  of  hurting  sick  people,  under  the  plea  that 
God  cannot  be  served  without  a  noise,  and  that 
His  service  must  be  carried  on  at  all  costs.  I  hope 
we  know  better  than  that :  at  least  you  might  have 
known  your  old  grandmother  better." 

"  I  thought  the  people  might  miss  it.  One  can 
understand  when  one  has  lived  out  in  the  wilds,  as  I 
have  done,  that  there  is  something  sweet  in  such  a 
daily  call" — and  Tor  stopped  short,  colouring  as  he 
spoke,  as  if  he  had  said  more  than  he  intended. 

"  Why,  Tor,  you  said  it  was  all  tomfoolery !  "  cried 
Curly,  eying  his  big  brother  as  though  he  thought 
he  was  playing  on  the  credulity  of  Granny. 

The  flush  deepened  in  Tor's  face,  and  nobody 
made  any  reply.  The  elders  of  the  party  were 
better  able  to  understand  than  the  children  that 
careless  words  spoken  in  momentary  irritation,  anQ 
in  great  discomfort  and  pain,  might  not  really  ex- 
press the  true  feelings  of  the  speaker ;  yet  they 
could  not  but  regret  that  such  unguarded  words  had 
been  allowed  to  escape  and  fasten  themselves  upon 
the  retentive  memory  of  a  young  child. 


A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  103 

"  You  needn't  treasure  up  against  me  every  word  I 
say,'  growled  the  young  man  at  length ;  and  Curly 
felt  as  if  he  had  betrayed  his  hero,  and  was  ashamed 
of  himself,  though  he  could  not  make  out  whether 
Tor  had  spoken  in  jest  to  him,  or  whether  he  had 
been  trying  to  "  chaff "  Granny.  Certainly  Tor  had 
not  had  the  smallest  idea  of  deceiving  anyone,  yet 
he  asked  himself  afterwards  whether  he  had  spoken 
what  might  sound  like  hypocrisy  in  one  who  had 
never  greatly  valued  the  church  privileges  to  which 
he  had  the  right  of  admission,  and  who  had  seldom 
troubled  his  head  over  his  many  acts  of  careless 
omission. 

In  the  atmosphere  of  that  house  he  was  finding, 
as  the  children  had  found,  that  there  was  something 
which  had  never  before  entered  into  his  life,  and 
it  had  a  sweetness  to  which  he  was  altogether  a 
stranger.  It  roused  new  feelings  within  him,  though 
at  present  these  feelings  were  too  vague  to  be  defined. 

That  afternoon  was  a  very  happy  one.  Granny 
suggested  that,  after  an  early  tea,  Tor  should  take  a 
drive  and  the  little  boys  should  go  with  him,  and 
this  idea  was  pleasant  to  everyone.  The  weather 
was  not  so  hot  or  bright  as  it  had  been,  and  after 
four  o'clock  there  was  little  fear  that  the  sun  would 
be  too  hot,  if  they  kept  by  the  shady  lanes  and  out 
of  the  dust  and  glare  of  the  turnpike  road. 

Tor,    who    had    not    so    far    been    beyond   the 


104  A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

grounds,  was  much  pleased  to  make  the  attempt, 
and  Phyllis  was  to  drive  him  in  the  comfortable 
stanhope  phaeton,  which  was  high  enough  to  give 
an  excellent  view  over  the  hedges  as  they  went 
along,  and  there  was  ample  room  on  the  back  seat 
for  both  the  little  boys. 

It  was  a  very  merry  party  that  set  forth.  Tor 
was  his  real  self  that  day,  full  of  interesting  talk, 
eager  for  information  about  all  they  passed,  recall- 
ing funny  reminiscences  of  past  days,  when  he  had 
been  on  a  visit  here  in  his  childhood,  and  making 
them  laugh  unrestrainedly  over  some  of  the  stories 
he  told  them  of  the  pranks  he  had  played  and  the 
scrapes  he  had  fallen  into. 

The  worst  of  such  stories  is  that  when  grown  men 
and  women  tell  them  in  after-days,  they  sound  so 
funny  that  children  naturally  long  to  do  like  things, 
so  as  to  gain  similar  experiences  for  themselves. 

Whilst  Tor  and  Phyl  were  laughing  so  much  over 
the  naughty  tricks  he  had  played  when  he  was 
a  little  fellow,  Curly  was  wondering  in  his  heart 
whether  he  and  Bunny  could  not  emulate  their 
brother's  feats,  and  distinguish  themselves  as  he  had 
done.  Old  Hannah  had  often  told  them  what  a 
boy  Tor  was  for  mischief,  and  she  had  never  seemed 
to  like  him  any  the  less  for  it.  Why  should  they 
not  have  some  fun  too  ?  They  had  really  been  very 
good  all  this  time,  in  the  hope  that  Granny  would 


A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  105 

find  some  farm-work  for  them  to  do,  or  would  at 
least  give  a  farm  to  Tor,  in  which  case  they  could 
live  with  him  (they  thought)  and  help  him  ;  but 
these  ideas  were  fading  now  as  time  passed  by,  and 
nothing  was  done.  The  impatient  children  thought 
that  surely  if  Granny  had  the  slightest  intention  of 
being  a  really  nice  Granny  she  would  have  declared 
herself  before  now ;  and  the  disappointment  made 
Curly  a  little  bit  reckless,  as  did  also  the  feeling 
of  elation  which  had  followed  upon  his  unwonted 
depression. 

"  I  wish  we  could  do  some  of  those  funny  things 
like  what  Tor  did  when  he  was  little,"  he  said  to  his 
brother  as  they  sat  at  tea  together  at  the  conclusion 
of  the  drive.  "  Everybody  else  does  funny  things 
but  us.  Why  can't  we  think  of  them  too  ? " 

"  I  don't  know,"  answered  Bunny,  doubtfully ; 
"  but  I  think  they  might  think  us  naughty  if  we  did 
them." 

"  Well,  I  don't  much  care  if  they  did.  They  all 
laugh  at  Tor  now.  Why  shouldn't  they  laugh  at  us 
too?" 

"  But  they  didn't  laugh  then  :  he  was  whipped 
and  sent  to  bed — he  said  so.  You  wouldn't  like 
that,  Curly." 

"  I  don't  think  I  should  care  if  we  had  had  our 
fun  first,"  was  the  independent  answer.  "  I  don't 
think  you've  any  spirit,  Bunny.  I'll  ask  Tor," 


106  A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

"  I  think  he'll  tell  you  to  keep  out  of  mischief," 
was  the  sage  reply,  and  Curly  sat  ruminating. 

"  Fun  needn't  be  mischief,"  he  remarked. 

"  It  mostly  is — at  least  that's  what  they  call  it  at 
the  time." 

Curly  did  not  argue.  He  knew  that  Bunny  was 
better  at  that  kind  of  thing  than  he  was  himself,  but 
he  thought  a  great  deal,  and  when  he  had  got  to 
bed  that  night,  he  lay  thinking  and  thinking  what 
he  could  do — though  he  hardly  knew  in  his  own 
mind  what  was  in  his  head — only  that  he  was  fired 
by  the  ambition  to  win  fame  of  some  kind,  and  he 
did  not  see  how  it  was  to  be  done. 

And  then  suddenly  some  words  of  Tor's  came 
flashing  into  his  head. 

"  Turn  the  cattle  into  the  hayfields  " — surely  he 
had  said  that  once  ;  and  all  in  a  moment  Curly  was 
aware  of  a  great  longing  to  go  and  do  it.  He  knew 
quite  well  which  of  the  meadows  had  been  shut  up 
for  hay,  and  how  long  and  sweet  the  grass  was 
growing  there,  and  how  nobody  was  allowed  to  go  in 
to  tread  it  down.  He  had  a  dim  perception  that  it 
would  be  a  mischievous  act  to  turn  in  the  cattle 
from  the  pasture-meadow  into  the  standing  crop, 
but  it  would  be  so  delightful  to  get  up  in  the 
middle  of  the  night,  and  go  out  into  the  dewy  fields 
and  play  such  an  important  part ;  and  the  idea  got 
such  possession  of  his  head  that  he  could  not  think 


A    PAIR    OF  ORIGINALS  107 

of  anything  else,  and  lay  wide  awake  whilst  Bunny 
lay  sleeping  soundly  beside  him,  never  a  misgiving 
crossing  his  mind  that  it  would  be  practical  dis- 
obedience to  steal  out  when  he  was  supposed  to  be 
fast  asleep,  and  full  of  longing  for  the  house  to  be 
silent  so  that  he  could  go  on  his  way  without  fear  of 
molestation. 

Should  he  tell  Bunny  of  his  plan  ? 

On  the  whole  he  thought  not.  Bunny  was  not 
quite  to  be  relied  upon.  He  had  grown  very  fond 
of  Granny,  and  talked  a  great  deal  to  her,  and 
seemed  a  good  deal  older,  and  therefore  less  to  be 
depended  upon  on  an  occasion  of  this  kind.  He 
had  not  been  very  responsive  earlier  in  the  evening. 
Perhaps  it  would  be  more  fun  to- go  alone. 

Luckily  for  Curly,  the  Priory  went  early  to  bed, 
and  soon  after  ten  o'clock  the  house  was  quite 
quiet.  There  would  be  no  difficulty  about  getting 
out  undetected,  for  there  was  a  little  garden-door 
close  under  their  rooms,  the  bolts  of  which  he  could 
undo  himself  easily ;  and  when  he  felt  sure  of  mak- 
ing his  escape  unmolested,  he  slipped  out  of  bed, 
carried  his  clothes  into  the  next  room,  and  dressing 
in  a  great  hurry,  ran  down  the  stairs,  and  found 
himself  very  soon  out  in  the  dewy,  fragrant  night. 

Curly  looked  round  him  in  a  sort  of  delight  at 
the  new  beauty  he  saw  about  him.  The  moonlight 
lay  softly  on  flower  and  tree.  The  nightingales 


io8  A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

were  singing,  as  they  seldom  sing  by  day  ;  and  there 
was  a  sort  of  mystery  and  fairy-like  loveliness  hang- 
ing over  the  sleeping  place  which  gave  it  a  new 
face,  and  made  him  feel  almost  as  if  he  had  got  into 
an  enchanted  country. 

But  if  the  garden  was  beautiful,  the  fields  at- 
tracted him  still  more — the  big  meadows  where  the 
sleepy  cows  were  lying,  who  hardly  cared  to  open 
their  soft  eyes  to  look  at  the  little  intruder.  If  the 
old  creatures  had  not  been  so  lazy,  perhaps  Curly 
would  have  contented  himself  with  his  moonlight 
ramble  ;  but  really  the  impulse  to  drive  them  was 
overpowering,  and  he  thought  how  nice  and  com- 
fortable it  would  be  for  them  to  lie  in  the  soft  long 
grass,  instead  of  on  that  which  they  had  cropped  so 
short  already. 

It  felt  so  grand,  too,  to  be  out  all  alone,  and  to 
have  command  over  all  those  great  placid,  docile 
beasts.  There  was  a  gate  from  this  meadow  into 
the  one  beyond  which  had  been  shut  up  for  hay, 
and  with  a  little  trouble  and  dexterity  Curly  man- 
aged the  fastening — there  was  no  lock  on  the  gate — 
and  had  set  it  wide  open. 

"Now,  then,  gee  up  ;  get  along ;  tumble  up  and  go 
in,"  he  cried  to  the  nearest  cows,  who  showed  very 
little  eagerness  to  obey  him.  However,  Curly  was 
a  determined  little  fellow,  and  having  made  up  his 
mind  that  the  cows  were  to  go  in  there,  and  that 


A   PAIR  OF  ORIGINALS  109 

they  would  be  much  more  comfortable  for  the 
change,  he  was  not  going  to  be  baulked  by  their 
laziness  ;  and  as  soon  as  he  had  hounded  a  few  in, 
the  rest  got  up  and  followed,  and  he  had  the  tri- 
umphant satisfaction  of  seeing  them  all  wandering 
about  in  the  nice  long  grass,  which  he  thought  must 
taste  very  nice,  and  be  so  very  much  more  comfort- 
able for  sleeping  on. 

"  We  should  think  it  was  wet ;  but  cows  don't 
mind  that,  I  suppose,  and  they  can  have  one  nice 
meal  and  good  night  before  anyone  comes  to  turn 
them  out.  Poor  cows !  I  do  think  it  is  a  shame  to 
give  them  only  this  short  stuff  to  eat,  when  they 
give  us  such  nice  milk  and  butter.  And  they  won't 
eat  so  very  much  in  one  night,  so  that  even  if 
people  are  cross  they  can't  say  much  harm  has  been 
done." 

And  Curly  made  his  way  home  in  leisurely 
fashion,  greatly  pleased  with  his  nocturnal  ramble 
and  with  what  he  had  accomplished. 

"I  wonder  everybody  doesn't  come  out  at  night, 
it's  so  much  nicer  than  by  day ;  but  I'm  glad, 
though,  they  weren't  all  out  to-night,  or  perhaps 
they  would  have  seen  me.  I  .don't  think  they  are 
at  all  kind  to  the  cows.  I  think  they  should  have 
the  nice  soft,  long  grass  to  sleep  on  at  night,  what- 
ever they  have  in  the  day." 

No  one  accosted  Curly  on  his  way  back  to  the 


HO  A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

house,  and  he  let  himself  in  and  found  his  way  back 
to  bed  with  all  speed  and  security.  He  went  to 
sleep  very  quickly,  not  being  troubled  by  any  pricks 
of  conscience,  for  so  far  he  had  not  done  anything 
which  he  felt  to  be  wrong,  though  he  fancied  he 
might  chance  to  get  a  scolding  to-morrow  for  his 
night's  work  ;  and  he  slept  so  soundly  that  it  was 
with  difficulty  he  awoke  next  morning,  and  then  it 
was  to  find  Bunny  quite  shaking  him  to  get  him  to 
open  his  eyes. 

"  Do  wake  up,  Curly;  I've  got  something  to  show 
you." 

Curly's  first  answer  was  only  a  sleepy  grunt,  as  he 
turned  himself  over  on  his  pillow  again  ;  but,  as  he 
found  Bunny  was  resolved  to  wake  him  up,  he  sat 
up  and  rubbed  his  eyes  sleepily,  and  asked  in  a 
rather  injured  way  what  was  the  matter,  and  why 
he  was  being  routed  up  so  early. 

"  It  isn't  so  very  early ;  Hannah  will  be  here 
directly,  and  if  she  comes,  she  will  kill  them  directly, 
and  I  want  to  take  them  right  out  into  the  fields, 
where  they  can't  get  in  anybody's  way,  and  let  them 
go  there.  They  are  such  pretty  little  things,  I  can't 
bear  they  should  be  killed." 

"What  are  they?  I  don't  know  what  you're 
talking  about." 

"  Why,  mice,  to  be  sure — two  mice  in  one  trap." 

Curly  was  wide  awake  now  in  a  moment.      He 


A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  III 

had  been  much  excited  by  the  importation  of  a  new 
kind  of  trap  in  which  several  mice  might  be  caught 
at  once,  and  had  watched  its  baiting  night  by  night 
with  great  interest ;  but  though  mice  were  trouble- 
some and  plentiful  in  the  nurseries,  none  had  been 
caught  until  now,  and  he  jumped  out  of  bed  to  see 
the  captives,  and  quite  agreed  with  Bunny  that  it 
would  be  very  cruel  to  kill  such  dear  little  bright- 
eyed  things,  though  they  must  be  taken  away  from 
the  house  to  be  released  or  Hannah  would  be 
vexed  about  it. 

Very  quickly  the  two  little  brothers  hurried  into 
their  things,  the  memory  of  last  night's  escapade 
blotted  out  from  Curly's  mind  by  the  excitement  of 
an  idea  that  was  forming  in  his  busy  brain.  He 
thought  his  clothes  seemed  damp  and  tumbled,  but 
gave  no  heed  to  the  matter.  The  great  thing  was 
to  get  dressed  and  secure  their  prize  before  Hannah 
came  to  call  them,  and  this  was  easily  accomplished, 
for  it  was  still  quite  early. 

"  Let  us  put  on  a  glove,  in  case  they  bite,  and 
each  carry  one,"  suggested  Bunny ;  "  for  if  we  have 
the  trap,  perhaps  someone  will  meet  us  and  tell  us 
to  give  them  to  the  cat." 

The  capture  was  effected  with  a  little  difficulty  ; 
but  at  last  the  terrified  mice  were  mastered,  and 
each  little  boy  proudly  held  his  prisoner  in  a  firm 
though  gentle  clasp.  They  were  kind-hearted  little 


112  A   PAIR  OF  ORIGINALS 

fellows,  and  had  no  love  for  tormenting  dumb  ani- 
mals, and,  as  their  intentions  were  kind,  they  did 
not  see  why  their  captives  should  be  alarmed. 

"  Bunny,  do  let  us  race  them  first,"  cried  Curly,  as 
they  crossed  the  garden.  "  It  would  be  such  fun  to 
see  who  won." 

"  But,  Curly,  how  could  we  ?  If  we  put  them 
down,  they  would  just  scamper  off  different  ways, 
and  it  would  be  no  race  at  all ;  but  it  would  be  fun 
if  we  could,  though." 

The  little  brothers  stood  and  looked  at  one 
another,  and  a  bright  idea  flashed  in  on  Bunny. 

"  Don't  you  think  we  might  have  a  swimming- 
match  ?  I  suppose  mice  can  swim.  We  could 
easily  get  a  pail  of  water  and  set  them  to  swim 
across  it." 

Curly  was  enchanted  at  the  idea,  and  off  flew  the 
eager  pair  to  the  yard,  where  they  knew  they  could 
find  appliances  for  the  match.  But  on  the  way 
they  passed  the  dairy,  and  Curly  suddenly  stopped 
short. 

"  Oh,  Bunny,  let's  do  it  in  here  ;  there  are  always 
such  nice  big  pans  standing  here,  and  nobody  will 
interrupt  us.  See,  it's  quite  empty,  and  we  can  have 
as  many  matches  as  we  like." 

Bunny  willingly  agreed,  and  they  went  in  to  look 
for  a  shallow  pan  to  fill  with  water,  but  they  were 
all  in  use. 


A    PAIR   Of  '^IZINALS  113 

"  Never  mind,"  answered  the  undaunted  Curly, 
"  they  can  swim  just  as  well  in  milk  ;  and  there  are 
ever  such  a.  lot  of  milk-pans  beautifully  full.  Come 
on." 

"  But  would  they  mind  ?  "  asked  Bunny,  hesitat- 
ing; not  that  he  saw  anything  personally  objection- 
able in  drinking  milk  that  mice  had  swum  in,  only 
he  knew  that  grown-up  people  had  unaccountable 
prejudices  on  some  points. 

"  Oh  no,"  answered  the  ever-ready  Curly,  "  I  know 
lots  and  lots  of  the  milk  is  given  to  the  pigs.  I've 
heard  them  say  so  again  and  again.  This  pan  can 
go  to  them  when  we've  done  with  it.  Now  are  you 
ready  ?  Let's  have  a  proper  start.  Oh,  don't  they 
jump  and  splash  !  Oh,  what  fun  !  Don't  let  him 
go  !  Catch  him  again  !  " 

The  next  moments  were  full  of  excitement  to  the 
children,  and  fine  objects  they  were  with  the  thick 
cream  splashing  on  to  them  and  adhering  to  their 
clothes  in  slimy  flakes.  Their  shrieks  of  merriment 
and  excited  encouragement  brought  the  dairy- 
woman  hurrying  to  the  spot,  and  there,  to  her  horror 
and  disgust,  she  found  two  wretched,  half-drowned, 
half-choked  mice  splashing  in  and  out  of  her  best 
cream-pan,  and  spluttering  milk  and  dust  into  half  a 
dozen  more. 

No  wonder  the  worthy  woman  lost  her  temper 
and  gave  a  cuff  to  each  of  the  small  intruders.  She 


H4  A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

had  been  up  betimes  to  churn  the  butter  that  would 
not  come  as  it  should,  and  there  was  an  unusual 
demand  for  cream  at  the  house  that  day,  as  com- 
pany was  expected,  and  here  was  one  of  her  very 
thickest  pans  hopelessly  spoilt  by  a  couple  of 
tiresome  pickles  who  were  old  enough,  she  con- 
sidered, to  know  better. 

Bunny  tried  to  apologise,  and  Curly  to  explain, 
but  the  irate  woman  cared  for  neither  explanations 
nor  apologies.  Her  cream  was  ruined  and  she  was 
hindered  in  her  work,  and  that  was  all  she  cared  to 
think  about. 

With  flushed  cheeks  and  hanging  heads  the  two 
culprits  slunk  away,  and  before  they  had  got  very 
far  they  were  aware  that  there  was  another  commo- 
tion in  the  yard,  and  the  dairy-woman,  who  had  fol- 
lowed them  at  a  distance,  joined  the  excited  group 
and  added  her  word  in  high-pitched  tones. 

"  It's  plain  it's  bin  done  a'  purpose,  for  the  gate 
was  shut  and  fastened  agin,  and  they  couldn't  ha* 
done  that  theirselves,  even  if  they  could  ha'  got  in 
alone.  It's  bin  a  piece  of  mischief  or  spite  ;  and  I 
hope  Madam  will  have  them  as  ha'  done  it  clapped 
into  prison." 

"  Oi've  not  a  matter  o'  doubt  but  she  will,"  said 
one  of  the  cowmen,  who  was  standing  by ;  "  Madam 
isn't  one  o'  they  poor-speerited  folks  as  can't  stand 
up  for  hersel'  and  gets  put  upon  all  round.  She'll 


A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  11$ 

give  it  un,  if  her  catches  on  un.  Prison,  did  you  say? 
O  ay,  I'll  be  bound  it'll  be  that — and  maybe  hard 
labour  too.  Whoy,  they  tell  me  there  was  times 
gone  by  when  they'd  hang  a  man  for  so  much  as 
looking  at  a  sheep — let  alone  turning  all  they  beasts 
into  a  shut-up  meadow  that's  fair  spiled  for  the 
hay." 

Curly  waited  to  hear  no  more.  His  face  was  per- 
fectly livid.  There  is  almost  no  limit  to  the  credence 
children  place  in  words  they  hear  from  their  elders, 
be  those  elders  gentle  or  simple.  It  never  occurred 
to  the  child  that  these  simple  countryfolk,  in  their 
irritation  at  the  trick  somebody  had  played  upon 
them,  should  talk  in  a  mysterious  fashion  about 
prisons  and  terrible  penalties ;  it  seemed  to  him  to 
show  his  conduct  in  a  new  and  terrible  light  ;  and 
from  that  moment  he  was  perfectly  convinced  that 
what  he  had  done,  if  he  were  detected,  would  serve 
to  send  him  to  prison  for  life,  and  might  even  prove 
a  hanging  matter,  as  it  would  have  been,  he  thought, 
in  the  olden  days  in  which  he  had  once  longed  to 
live. 

A  moment  before  Curly  had  been  on  the  point  of 
imparting  to  his  brother  all  that  he  had  done  the 
previous  night.  Now,  however,  his  lips  were  sealed 
by  fright,  and  he  determined  not  to  say  a  word  to  a 
single  soul.  Nobody  had  seen  him — nobody  could 
possibly  know  that  he  was  concerned  in  the  matter  ; 


Il6  A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

and  unless  he  should  find  out  that  somebody  else 
was  going  to  prison  in  his  stead,  he  resolved  to  say 
not  a  word  to  anybody.  He  hoped  he  might  have 
courage  to  tell  in  that  case,  but  nothing  less  dreadful 
than  that  should  unlock  his  lips. 

But  what  the  little  boy  suffered  those  days  that 
followed  it  would  be  hard  to  say.  The  scolding  for 
the  mischief  they  had  done  in  the  dairy,  whilst  it 
shamed  Bunny  very  much,  seemed  as  nothing  to 
Curly,  who  was  thinking  all  the  while  of  his  more 
heinous  sin.  He  longed  to  take  counsel  with  Tor, 
whose  words  had  first  set  him  on  to  think  of  such  a 
thing,  but  he  felt  that  he  never,  never  could  do  that, 
because  he  had  told  a  lie  to  Tor  about  it  the  very 
first  day.  When  the  news  had  first  been  brought, 
Tor  had  remembered  his  idle  words,  had  told  them 
to  Lady  Chesterton,  who  had  asked  him  to  question 
the  little  boy  on  the  subject,  and  Curly  in  his  fright 
had  told  the  first  deliberate  lie  of  his  small  life  about 
it :  and  had  all  the  misery  of  feeling  that  he  had 
done  so,  without  the  consolation  of  thinking  himself 
believed  ;  for,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  Tor  had  seen  the 
little  fellow  creep  out  of  the  house  that  very  night 
in  the  moonlight,  and  was  perfectly  sure  he  had  com- 
mitted the  offence  ;  and  not  knowing  what  had  passed 
to  terrify  the  child  so  greatly,  had  felt  surprise  and 
disappointment  at  his  want  of  candour.  Curly  felt 
Tor's  displeasure,  and  was  doubly  miserable.  Indeed 


A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  117 

just  "then  everything  seemed  wretched  and  changed. 
He  felt  unworthy  to  be  with  the  others,  unworthy 
to  go  to  church,  or  even  to  say  his  own  prayers,  and 
instead  of  replying  to  questions  and  caresses  in  the 
old  fearless  way,  he  shrank  from  everybody,  and 
was  cross  to  Bunny  and  snappish  to  Phyl. 

Poor  little  boy !  If  he  had  only  known  how 
sorry  some  of  the  grown-up  people  were,  and  how 
gladly  they  would  have  forgiven  him  if  he  had  but 
spoken  the  truth,  he  would  have  been  saved  much 
misery ;  but  he  felt  bound  hand  and  foot,  partly  by 
his  own  fault,  partly  through  unreasoning  fear  ;  and 
days  passed  by,  long  dreary  days,  and  still  he  was 
as  far  as  ever  from  seeing  any  way  out  of  the  net 
he  had  woven  for  himself. 


CHAPTER   VII 

"  FIRE !     Fire !     Fire  !  " 

Bunny  and  Curly  awoke  with  a  start  to  the 
sound  of  that  terrible  cry.  They  had  been  aware 
even  in  their  dreams  that  some  great  tumult  had 
been  going  on,  though  it  had  not  aroused  them  all 
at  once  to  a  sense  of  what  was  really  passing. 
Now,  however,  the  cry,  which  seemed  to  come 
from  under  their  very  windows,  had  awakened  them 
to  some  purpose,  and  they  saw  from  the  window  a 
dreadful  red  light  in  the  sky  which  seemed  to  grow 
brighter  and  fiercer  every  moment. 

"  It's  a  fire,"  cried  Bunny,  huddling  on  his  clothes 
as  fast  as  his  hands  would  let  him,  "  and  it's  quite 
near  too.  I  can  hear  the  crackling  noise.  Oh, 
Curly,  I  do  believe  it's  Granny's  yard  that  is  on 
fire.  Oh,  suppose  the  house  is  all  burnt  up  !  " 

Curly  was  shivering  with  excitement  rather  than 
with  fear,  and  was  dressing  as  fast  as  he  could. 

"  Bunny,"  he  said  quite  seriously,  "  we  shall  have 
to  take  care  of  Granny  and  Phyl  and  Tor.  We 

mustn't  let  ourselves  get  frightened,  because  you 

1x8 


A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  119 

know  there  aren't  any  men  except  us  to  take  care 
of  the  women.  Tor  is  ill,  and  servants  always  lose 
their  heads — I've  heard  lots  of  people  say  so.  We 
shall  have  to  take  care  of  them.  We  must  think  of 
everything." 

"  So  we  will,  Curly ;  so  we  will.  Granny  has  been 
very  kind  to  us.  Now  we  will  show  her  that  we 
can  be  useful  to  her.  Oh,  here's  Phyl.  Phyl,  what 
is  it?  Is  the  house  going  to  be  burnt  up  too?" 

"  No,  dears  ;  at  least  we  hope  not.  But  it  is  bet- 
ter we  should  all  be  up  and  dressed  in  case  things  go 
worse  than  we  expect.  The  fire  is  in  the  yard,  but 
it  seems  to  have  got  great  hold,  and  there  is  more 
wind  than  there  was  last  evening.  If  it  increases, 
there  may  be  some  danger  to  the  house.  But  we 
must  hope  for  the  best.  Are  you  afraid,  little 
boys?" 

"  No,  no,"  answered  Curly,  speaking  more  like  his 
old  self  now  than  he  had  done  for  days.  "  We  are 
going  to  take  care  of  you  and  Granny.  Bunny,  let 
us  go  and  see  what  they  are  doing  in  the  yard. 
They  may  want  help  there." 

Phyl  smiled  at  the  good-faith  of  the  little  broth- 
ers, but  she  was  anxious  herself  to  go  to  the  scene 
of  operations. 

"  Tor  is  there,"  she  said.  "  He  is  directing  every- 
thing. He  has  seen  fires  before,  and  understands 
just  what  to  do."  And  it  was  something  of  a  relief 


120  A   PAIR  OF  ORIGINALS 

to  hear  that  the  whole  responsibility  was  not  to  fall 
on  their  small  shoulders,  for,  however  ready  and 
willing  they  were  to  do  everything,  they  had  not 
much  notion  how  to  set  about  putting  out  a  big 
fire. 

Putting  on  caps  and  even  overcoats,  for  Phyl  said 
it  might  be  cold  work  standing  about  in  the  yard, 
they  hurried  downstairs  with  all  speed,  to  find  the 
house  in  great  confusion,  servants  hurrying  this  way 
and  that,  getting  some  of  the  most  valuable  articles 
of  plate  and  furniture  ready  for  removal  if  the  need 
should  arise,  hurrying  this  way  and  that,  talking, 
crying  out,  asking  questions,  exclaiming  in  terror 
when  a  brighter  glare  of  light  seemed  to  show  that 
the  flames  were  approaching,  and  making  terrified 
inquiries  after  the  mistress,  Miss  Musgrave,  and  the 
little  gentlemen,  as  though  they  feared  they  were 
already  in  danger. 

It  was  all  immensely  exciting.  Outside  there  was 
such  a  great  light  all  round  that  every  tree  and 
bush  and  flower  seemed  to  be  illuminated.  Great 
showers  of  sparks  were  shooting  upwards  into  the 
sky  and  falling  again — almost  like  fireworks,  the 
little  boys  thought ;  and  above  every  other  sound 
came  the  roar  of  the  flames,  and  sometimes  they 
could  hear  shouts  in  a  voice  which  they  knew  to  be 
Tor's,  though  they  had  never  heard  him  speak  in 
that  tone  of  authority  before.  Phyl  was  as  excited 


A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  121 

as  they  were,  and  ran  with  them  to  the  yard.  In 
the  very  midst  of  it  a  great  stack  stood  all  in  a 
blaze,  and  the  two  on  either  side  of  it  had  caught, 
and  were  flaring  up  with  an  ever-increasing  fury. 
To  the  surprise  of  the  little  boys,  no  one  seemed  to 
be  doing  anything  towards  putting  out  the  flames. 
The  whole  energy  of  the  men  was  directed  towards 
pouring  water  on  some  thatched  buildings,  and 
upon  a  row  of  sheds  that  stood  very  near  the  blaz- 
ing pile,  whilst  others  were  pulling  down  the  stacks 
not  already  in  a  blaze,  and  hastily  carrying  away 
the  straw. 

And  standing  not  far  from  the  scene  of  opera- 
tions was  the  grandmother  herself,  watching  every- 
thing, and  sometimes  speaking  to  the  men  nearest 
her,  but  for  the  rest  leaving  the  direction  of  every- 
thing to  Tor,  who  seemed  the  ruling  spirit  of  the 
scene. 

He  was  standing  on  one  of  the  ladders  reared 
against  the  thatched  building,  and  sometimes  was 
quite  invisible  from  the  clouds  of  smoke  that  en- 
veloped him — smoke  that  was  sometimes  so  red 
with  the  fiery  breath  of  the  flames  that  Bunny  and 
Curly  cried  out  that  he  would  be  burnt  up.  But  he 
did  not  budge  from  his  post,  standing  there,  and 
encouraging  the  men  who  made  the  chain  to  pass 
up  the  buckets  of  water  as  fast  as  they  could  to 
him,  whilst  he  poured  them  upon  the  smoking 


122  A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

thatch,  and  kept  at  bay  the  hungry  flames,  which 
seemed  only  waiting  till  he  should  relax  his  efforts, 
to  spring  upon  the  building  and  devour  it. 

"  If  those  sheds  once  catch,  it  will  be  a  very  near 
thing  for  the  house,"  said  Granny,  speaking  very 
calmly,  though  her  words  were  rather  terrible. 
"  There  is  almost  a  direct  line  of  communication 
from  them  up  to  the  back  offices.  I  do  not  know 
if  it  is  right  for  Tor  to  exert  himself  so  much  ;  but 
the  men  would  not  work  like  that  without  his  ex- 
ample and  the  stimulus  of  his  presence." 

"  The  poor  farm-horses — are  they  all  safe  ?  "  asked 
Phyl ;  for  these  sheds  were  the  stables  of  the  cart- 
horses, and  it  was  dreadful  to  think  what  might 
happen  if  they  were  still  inside. 

"  Oh,  yes  ;  Tor  saw  to  that  first  thing.  The  men 
were  at  their  wits'  end  to  know  how  to  get  the 
terrified  creatures  to  face  the  fire  and  come  out,  but 
he  managed  it  by  blindfolding  them  completely 
with  a  huge  tarpaulin  muffled  round  their  heads  so 
as  to  deaden  the  noise  as  well  as  hide  the  sight  of 
the  flames." 

"  What  a  good  thing  for  all  of  us  that  Tor  is 
here ! " 

"  It  is  indeed.  This  is  not  the  first  fire  he  has 
seen.  He  has  all  his  wits  about  him,  and  knows 
exactly  what  to  do.  I  confess  that  I  am  far  less 
able  to  direct  matters  than  he  is.  And  the  men, 


A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  123 

though  willing  enough,  have  no  idea  of  the  best 
thing  to  do. 

Curly  listened  with  a  sense  almost  of  envy.  Oh, 
if  only  he  could  wipe  out  some  of  the  disgrace  he 
felt  weighing  upon  him,  by  some  deed  that  should 
show  how  much  he  would  do  if  he  could  !  It  was 
not  that  he  craved  glory  or  praise  for  himself — he 
was  feeling  very  humble  indeed  just  now  ;  but  he  did 
so  want  to  show  Granny  and  the  rest  that  he  could 
be  something  else  than  a  little  coward.  He  felt 
that  if  he  could  only  show  his  good-will  by  some 
service,  he  would  try  and  take  courage  and  tell  the 
whole  truth,  and  submit  to  the  punishment,  however 
terrible  it  might  be. 

Bunny  was  running  about  in  his  excitement,  and 
in  another  moment  Tor  had  called  out  to  him,  and 
he  was  climbing  the  ladder  like  a  young  monkey 
to  hear  what  he  said,  and  run  backwards  and  for- 
wards with  messages.  He  was  quicker  and  lighter 
than  Curly,  and  seemed  to  be  making  himself  very 
useful ;  and  once  drawn  into  the  vortex  of  those 
busy  workers,  he  came  out  no  more,  but  they  saw 
him  flitting  about  hither  and  thither  like  a  sprite, 
doing  they  knew  not  what,  but  apparently  useful  to 
more  than  one  of  the  workers,  and  looking  very 
proud  and  delighted  with  his  service. 

But  Curly  had  not  moved  from  Phyl's  side. 
Since  his  moral  fall  he  had  felt  much  less  disposed 


124  A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

to  put  himself  forward,  and  even  now  it  occurred  to 
him  that  perhaps  he  was  not  worthy  to  be  allowed 
to  help,  and  for  a  moment  the  light  and  the  glare 
upon  which  his  eyes  were  gazing  all  swam  together 
in  a  sort  of  red  mist ;  but  then  he  felt  ashamed  of 
his  weakness,  and,  clasping  his  small  hands  closely 
together,  he  uttered  a  little,  short,  incoherent  prayer 
— the  first  spontaneous  prayer  that  had  ever  crossed 
his  lips  in  that  sort  of  fashion. 

"  Please,  Lord  Jesus,  forgive  me,  and  give  me 
something  to  do,  and  help  me  to  do  it.  I  want  to 
be  good  again — and  I  think  it  would  help  me  so  to 
help  other  people." 

So  said  Curly  in  his  heart,  as  he  stood  watching 
the  dancing  flames ;  and  it  was  only  a  few  minutes 
later  before  an  idea  came  flashing  into  his  mind 
with  such  brilliance  that  he  nearly  exclaimed  aloud. 
But  nobody  heard  him — nobody  was  thinking  of 
him — and  the  next  moment  he  had  slipped  noise- 
lessly away,  and  was  scudding  along  in  the  shadow 
to  the  other  side  of  the  blazing  pile. 

It  had  suddenly  occurred  to  Curly  that  in  the 
meadow  just  beyond  the  stack-yard  lived  all  Phyl's 
pretty  dainty  chickens,  in  which  she  took  such 
pleasure  and  pride.  They  lived,  as  he  had  told 
Tor,  in  little  yards  of  their  own,  safely  wired  in,  and 
they  had  little  houses  to  go  into  at  night.  But  as 
the  child  now  remembered,  these  movable  homes 


A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  12$ 

were  very  near  to  the  sheds  which  Tor  was  trying 
to  keep  from  catching  fire,  and  as  the  wind  was 
setting  that  way,  clouds  of  smoke  and  showers  of 
sparks  were  being  driven  all  over  that  field,  and  it 
might  be  that  the  poor  fowls  were  in  danger  of 
their  very  lives. 

He  would  have  called  Bunny  if  he  could  have  got 
hold  of  him  ;  but  as  he  was  otherwise  engaged,  there 
was  nothing  for  it  but  to  go  alone  ;  and  racing  along 
under  the  impulse  of  this  new  thought,  Curly 
soon  found  himself  in  the  meadow,  with  only 
the  roar  of  the  fire  and  the  palpitating  glow  of  the 
light  behind  the  shed  for  his  companions. 

But  he  had  not  been  mistaken  in  his  idea  about 
the  poor  birds.  Awakened  from  their  sleep  by  the 
noise  and  the  light,  they  had  come  fluttering  out 
of  their  roosts  and  were  wildly  beating  themselves 
against  the  wire  netting,  terrified  by  the  glare  and 
almost  smothered  by  the  hot  smoke  and  thick 
showers  of  sparks  that  kept  falling  upon  them, 
actually  killing  more  than  one  before  the  gust 
pa'ssed. 

Nobody  had  thought  of  the  chickens,  not  even 
Phyllis  herself;  and  for  a  moment  Curly  was  almost 
daunted,  for  it  was  no  light  matter  to  plunge  into 
those  blinding  smoke-wreaths  ;  and  though  he  was 
farther  away  from  the  fire  than  he  had  been  in  the 
yard,  he  felt  the  heat  three  or  four  times  as  much, 


126  A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

for  before  he  was  on  the  lee  side  of  it,  whilst  now 
the  wind  was  carrying  it  right  down  upon  him. 

But  the  poor  fowls ;  and  Phyl,  who  would  be  so 
grieved  for  them  to  die  like  that !  And  had  he  not 
wanted  to  show  that  he  could  do  something  brave 
if  he  had  the  chance  ?  He  had  asked  for  some 
little  bit  of  work  all  of  his  own ;  would  it  not  be 
very  silly  and  cowardly  to  be  afraid  of  it  now  that  it 
had  come  ? 

If  Curly  had  been  a  little  bit  older  and  wiser,  he 
would  have  gone  and  asked  somebody  to  help  him  ; 
but  it  never  occurred  to  him  to  do  this.  Here  he 
was,  and  there  were  the  poor  fowls,  and  he  must  get 
them  carried  away  and  put  in  some  safe  place  as 
fast  as  he  could.  There  was  a  big  empty  stable  not 
far  away,  with  a  lot  of  loose  boxes  in  it.  He  would 
not  mix  the  chickens — had  he  not  heard  that  they 
were  always  kept  apart,  and  that  Phyl  was  very  par- 
ticular about  it?  He  would  give  each  kind  a  sepa- 
rate box,  and  then  nobody  could  accuse  him  of 
doing  any  mischief. 

But  it  was  terribly  hard  work,  and  oh,  so  hot ! 
Curly  took  off  his  overcoat  to  wrap  the  frightened 
fowls  in,  three  or  four  at  a  time,  but  even  then  the 
perspiration  poured  off  him,  and  he  had  to  stop 
again  and  again  to  gasp  for  air,  whilst  the  hot 
breath  of  the  fire  seemed  actually  scorching  his 
hands  and  his  face.  The  sparks  kept  falling  on 


A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  127 

him,  and  he  often  heard  his  hair  frizzling  as  if  it 
would  catch  fire ;  but  in  spite  of  all  this,  and  the 
fatigue  of  his  repeated  journeys  backwards  and  for- 
wards, he  still  persevered  with  resolute  determina- 
tion, all  the  more  resolutely  because,  as  it  was,  so 
many  of  the  poor  chickens  had  dropped  down  suf- 
focated, or  dead  with  fright,  and  delay  might  mean 
the  loss  of  more.  Only  five  out  of  the  ten  white 
Sultans  survived  the  terrors  of  that  night,  and  Phyl 
was  so  fond  and  so  proud  of  them  that  the  child 
could  almost  have  cried  at  the  sight  of  the  poor 
dead  birds.  The  others  were  of  hardier  nature,  and 
stood  the  terror  and  suffocation  better ;  but  there 
were  a  great  many  dead  before  his  task  was  accom- 
plished ;  and  as  for  himself,  poor  little  man,  he  felt 
almost  ready  to  drop  down  with  fatigue. 

But  the  task  was  accomplished — the  last  journey 
had  been  taken.  The  rescued  birds  were  beginning 
to  settle  themselves  to  sleep  again  in  their  new  shel- 
ter. There  was  no  danger  of  the  fire  reaching  them 
there,  unless  indeed  the  whole  place  were  burnt 
down  ;  and  as  the  fire-engine  had  now  come,  and 
the  hose  been  set  playing  upon  the  burning  mass,  it 
did  not  seem  as  if  this  was  very  likely  to  hap- 
pen. 

Curly  found  all  this  out  when  he  crept  round  to 
the  yard  again.  He  found  that  a  change  had  come 
over  the  spirit  of  the  scene.  Tor  was  gone,  and  so 


128  A  PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

were  the  grandmother  and  Phyllis,  and  strange  men 
were  hurrying  about,  pulling  to  pieces  the  blazing 
stacks  with  long  poles  with  hooks  at  the  end,  and 
playing  upon  the  burning  or  smouldering  masses 
with  the  hose  that  had  now  been  got  into  working 
order.  The  buildings  had  escaped  without  anything 
beyond  injury  from  the  water  ;  and  though  the  scene 
was  still  animated  enough  to  be  interesting  at  an- 
other time,  Curly  was  too  wearied  out  to  care  to 
stay  and  watch  it  now.  Moreover,  his  hands  and 
his  neck  had  begun  to  smart  very  much,  and  he 
wanted  to  get  as  far  as  he  could  from  the  noise  and 
the  smell  of  the  fire.  He  felt  half  choked  and  alto- 
gether giddy  and  queer,  and  he  made  his  way  back 
to  the  house,  wondering  if  he  should  find  that 
everybody  had  gone  to  bed. 

But  he  was  soon  satisfied  on  that  score.  The 
hall  door  stood  open,  and  as  soon  as  he  entered  he 
heard  the  clatter  of  cups  and  plates,  and  the  sound 
of  voices  proceeding  from  the  dining-room.  Evi- 
dently there  was  some  supper  being  eaten  there, 
and  the  scent  of  coffee  pervaded  the  house.  Curly 
was  so  thirsty  that  he  decided  he  would  go  in.  He 
did  not  think  they  would  mind  on  such  a  night  as 
this.  And  he  wanted  to  be  sure  that  nobody  had 
been  hurt  in  the  fire. 

So  pushing  open  the  door,  he  presented  himself 
at  the  little  extemporised  supper  then  going  on,  and 


A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  129 

an  exclamation  of  dismay  and  astonishment  burst 
from  every  person  present. 

"  My  dear  child,  where  have  you  been  ?  " 

"  Curly,  Curly !  your  hair — what  have  you  done 
with  it  ?  " 

"  My  little  man,  you  have  been  in  the  wars. 
Come  and  tell  Granny  all  about  it." 

Curly  came  slowly  forward,  and  as  he  did  so  his 
glance  fell  upon  his  reflection  in  the  mirror,  and  he 
stopped  short  in  astonishment  and  dismay  at  the 
object  he  presented.  His  face  was  as  black  as  a 
sweep's  ;  his  yellow  curls  were  half  burnt  away,  half 
singed  to  a  dark-brown  colour,  and  all  fuzzled  up 
into  a  dirty-looking  mass.  His  clothes  were  as  dis- 
reputable as  his  face,  and  he  had  great  red  patches 
on  his  hands  that  began  to  hurt  him  very  much, 
and  he  felt  altogether  so  dazed  and  funny  that  he 
hardly  knew  what  to  say  to  the  questions  showered 
upon  him ;  and  he  had  a  feeling  that  if  he  began 
to  talk  he  should  begin  to  cry  too,  and  disgrace  his 
manhood  for  ever.  So  he  said  nothing,  and  only 
went  slowly  up  to  Granny,  as  she  seemed  to  expect 
him  to  do. 

Tor  put  down  his  cup  and  stared  at  him  with  as 
much  curiosity  as  the  rest.  Tor  looked  as  if  he  had 
been  in  the  wars  himself,  with  his  pale  face  and 
dark-rimmed  eyes,  and  several  suspicious  red  patches 
on  his  own  hands  and  neck ;  but  he  had  been  to  his 


13°  A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

room  and  washed  away  the  grime,  and  had  changed 
his  coat  too ;  and  the  excitement  of  the  night  had 
now  passed  off,  though  his  head  might  feel  the 
effects  later. 

"  What  have  you  been  doing,  old  chap  ?  We  all 
thought  you  had  gone  to  bed  again,  as  you  were 
missing  from  the  scene  of  action.  I  thought  it  odd 
if  you  had  kept  out  of  it  all,  but  nobody  has  a 
notion  what  you  have  been  at." 

Curly  had  by  this  time  swallowed  down  a  cupful 
of  milk  that  Phyl  had  given  him,  and  he  felt  a  little 
bit  more  like  himself  in  consequence. 

"  I've  been  putting  Phyl's  chickens  into  the  empty 
stable.  They  were  all  getting  burnt  up — at  least 
they  were  dying  of  the  smoke  and  sparks.  Some  of 
them  are  dead,  but  I've  put  most  of  them  away  all 
safe.  There  are  sixteen  dead  altogether;  all  the 
rest  are  safe." 

"  Bravo,  Curly !  "  cried  Tor,  whilst  Phyllis  ran  and 
put  her  arms  about  him,  crying, 

"  Oh,  you  dear  little  brave  Curly — to  think  I 
should  have  forgotten  my  poor  chickens !  And  did 
you  really  go  and  do  that  all  by  yourself  ?  You  are 
a  dear  brave  little  man." 

"  I  couldn't  catch  Bunny,  or  I'd  have  asked  him 
to  help ;  but  I  did  it  alone  pretty  easily.  It 
wouldn't  have  taken  so  long  if  they  hadn't  been  so 
frightened." 


A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  131 

"  Why  didn't  you  tell  me  ?  I  would  have  helped 
you.  My  poor  dear  chickens  !  " 

"  Oh,  it  wouldn't  have  been  proper  for  you  to  have 
been  there ;  it  wasn't  women's  work,"  answered 
Curly,  with  the  importance  due  to  such  an  occasion. 

"  And  was  it  as  hot  as  all  this?  "  asked  the  grand- 
mother, touching  the  burnt  curls  and  the  scorched, 
smoke-grimed  little  paws,  of  which  Curly  began  to 
feel  ashamed  in  the  dining-room. 

"  It  was  when  the  wind  blew  the  sparks  over  us 
that  it  got  so  hot.  Sometimes  it  was  only  choky 
and  stuffy,  and  sometimes  it  made  me  have  to  run 
away,  and  then  the  chickens  some  of  them  died. 
But  I  went  back  as  soon  as  I  could,  and  got  more 
out — and  I  haven't  mixed  them  up,  Phyl ;  I  knew 
that  would  be  naughty.  I've  put  them  all  separate, 
though  perhaps  they  may  mix  themselves  by  flying 
over  if  somebody  doesn't  see  to  them  early  in  the 
morning." 

But  Curly  was  so  tired  that  Phyl  would  not  let 
him  talk  any  more.  He  drank  up  his  milk,  and 
swallowed  a  few  morsels  of  bread  and  meat  ;  but  he 
was  too  tired  to  be  hungry,  and  was  very  glad  to  be 
taken  off  to  bed,  though  he  hardly  knew  why  Phyl 
took  him  up  herself,  and  bathed  his  poor  little  hands 
in  hot  water,  and  helped  him  to  sponge  away  all  the 
grime  and  smoke  from  his  small  person  before  get- 
ting into  bed  again. 


132  A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

But  the  pretty  curls  were  spoilt  beyond  hope  of 
recovery  ;  the  soft  hair  came  off  in  great  flakes  as 
soon  as  it  was  touched  by  the  comb. 

"  You'll  have  to  cut  it  short  like  Bunny's,"  re- 
marked Curly,  not  without  a  sense  of  inward  satis- 
faction ;  for,  though  he  had  seldom  troubled  to  think 
of  it  before,  it  was  rather  girlish  to  have  long  hair, 
and  much  more  manly  to  wear  it  cropped  short  like 
Tor's.  So,  as  there  was  no  helping  it,  Phyl  took  her 
scissors  and  clipped  off  the  charred  curls,  and  Curly 
stroked  his  round  head  with  great  satisfaction,  and 
hoped  that  what  was  left  of  it  would  curl  up  round 
his  head  as  Tor's  did. 

"  For  I  should  like  to  be  like  Tor  when  I  grow 
up,"  he  said.  "  Tor  was  very  brave  to-night,  was 
he  not?" 

"  And  so  was  somebody  else,"  answered  Phyl,  as 
she  bent  to  kiss  the  tired  little  fellow ;  and  Curly 
suddenly  put  his  arms  round  her  neck,  and  an- 
swered in  a  low  whisper, 

"  I  can't  be  brave  really.  I'm  afraid  I'm  a  great 
coward  ;  but  I'm  going  to  try  and  be  really  brave — 
I  am  indeed.  Please  will  you  ask  Him  to  help  me  ? 
You  know  you  told  us  once  He  would." 

"  I  will  indeed,  my  dear  little  man.  I  think  if 
you  ask  that  Help  you  will  not  be  afraid  any  more, 
and  afterwards  you  will  be  so  much  happier." 

Curly  was  not  quite  so  sure  of  that,  if  he  had  to 


A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  133 

go  to  prison ;  but  at  least  he  would  feel  that  he  had 
tried  to  do  right,  and  he  had  been  very  miserable  as 
long  as  he  had  kept  back  his  crime  and  had  told  a 
lie  about  it.  He  wondered  what  Bunny  would  do 
without  him,  and  if  he  would  miss  him  very  much  ; 
and  when  his  brother  came  up  to  bed  full  of  the 
events  of  the  night,  and  proud  alike  of  the  exploits 
of  Tor  and  of  Curly,  never  thinking  of  feeling  jeal- 
ous that  he  had  not  equally  distinguished  himself, 
Curly  felt  that  he  had  never  known  before  how 
dear  Bunny  was  to  him  ;  and  asking  him  to  come 
into  his  bed,  he  put  his  arms  about  his  neck,  and 
whispered  all  the  story  to  him,  and  told  him  of  the 
dreadful  thing  that  would  happen  when  the  truth 
was  known,  as  he  intended  it  to  be  known  the  very 
next  day. 

And  Bunny,  who  had  heard  all  that  the  farm- 
people  had  said,  fully  believed  that  the  offence  was 
punishable  by  law,  and  that  Curly  would  be  haled 
off  to  prison  for  it. 

"  Unless  Granny  declines  to  prosecute,"  he  re- 
marked, not  in  the  least -understanding  what  that 
meant,  but  remembering  that  he  had  heard  the 
words  used  by  grown-up  people. 

"  Granny  can't  help  it — it's  the  police  who  take 
people  to  prison  ;  and  you  know  if  she  Were  to  re- 
sist, it  might  be  misprision  of  treason,  and  I  think 
people  have  their  heads  cut  off  for  that." 


134         .  A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

"  Why,  so  it  might.  Oh,  Curly,  how  dreadful  ! 
Don't  you  think  you  might  escape  before  the  po- 
licemen came  ?  " 

"  I — I  don't  quite  know,  Bunny ;  but  we  might 
ask  Granny.  I  must  tell  her  first,  because  I've  told 
a  lie  about  it ;  and  I  can't  be  happy  till  that's  off  my 
mind.  She  might  let  me  hide  somewhere — perhaps 
there  is  a  room  somewhere  where  people  did  hide 
in  the  olden  times.  But  then  she  might  get  into 
trouble  herself,  you  know,  and  I  think  I  ought  to 
go  to  prison  rather  than  that." 

"Curly,"  said  Bunny,  with  warm  admiration,"! 
think  you're  very  brave — I  do  indeed.  When  I'm 
grown  up  I'll  write  a  book  about  you.  And  if  you 
do  go  to  prison,  I'll  rescue  you — I  will  indeed.  I'll 
either  go  barefoot  to  the  Queen  and  ask  for  a  par- 
don, or  else  I'll  come  with  a  rope  and  a  silk  thread 
and  a  beetle,  and  help  you  to  escape  like  the 
people  in  books.  Don't  be  miserable  about  it. 
You  shan't  stay  long  in  prison.  I'm  quite  sure  we 
could  do  an  escape  very  well ;  we've  played  at  it 
so  often." 

This  was  the  most  comforting  thought  that  had 
come  to  Curly  all  these  long  days,  and  he  clung  to 
Bunny  as  to  a  tower  of  strength. 

"  Oh,  I  never  thought  of  that.  Oh,  Bunny  dear, 
how  good  you  are  !  how  I  do  love  you  !  Some  peo- 
ple would  have  been  angry  and  have  left  me  to  my 


A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  135 

fate.  I  don't  deserve  you  should  be  so  good ;  but 
I  sha'n't  mind  half  so  much  if  you  love  me  all  the 
same,  and  try  to  get  me  out." 

"  Of  course  I  should  never  rest  a  moment  whilst 
you  were  in  prison.  Perhaps  I  shall  disguise  my- 
self and  come  as  a  warder,  and  get  charge  of  you — 
but  I  suppose  I  should  have  to  grow  up  first,  and 
that  would  take  too  long.  But  I  might  be  errand- 
boy  to  one  of  the  bakers  or  people  who  supplied 
the  prison,  and  get  in  that  way.  I  might  be  sent 
to  measure  you  for  your  chains,  you  know,  and 
then  we  could  arrange  things  nicely.  But  don't  be 
afraid  ;  there  are  lots  of  ways  of  escaping,  and  I'll 
read  them  all  up  before  I  come." 

In  spite  of  the  absorbing  interest  of  the  subject, 
Curly  was  growing  sleepy.  He  had  worked  too 
hard  for  sleep  to  be  driven  away,  even  though  this 
might  be  the  very  last  night  of  liberty. 

"  I  think  I  like  the  beetle  best,"  he  answered 
drowsily.  "  Don't  forget  to  put  the  wax  on  his 
nose  to  make  him  climb  straight.  I  shall  be  look- 
ing out  for  him.  Good-night,  Bunny  dear.  I'm  so 
much  obliged  to  you  for  thinking  about  it  all.  I'm 
not  nearly  so  unhappy  about  it  now." 

And  in  effect  Curly  was  sleeping  soundly  in  an- 
other minute,  though  Bunny  lay  broad  awake  for 
a  full  half-hour  longer,  pondering  the  story  his 
brother  had  told  him,  and  wondering  what  would  be 


I36  A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

the  result  of  the  confession  to  be  made  the  next 
day. 

Truth  to  tell,  the  little  fellow  felt  a  great  respect 
and  admiration  for  his  younger  brother.  He  did 
not  feel  certain  that  he  should  have  had  the  courage 
to  speak  out,  knowing  the  penalty  of  such  an  act ; 
but  he  could  admire  the  spirit  which  prompted  the 
confession,  and  he  resolved,  if  he  could  do  nothing 
to  avert  the  fate  of  his  comrade  and  darling,  either 
to  share  his  fate  or  rescue  him  from  it  as  quickly  as 
might  be. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE  morning  following  the  fire  was  a  busy  one  for 
the  mistress  of  the  house,  as  may  well  be  guessed  ; 
but  not  so  busy  as  to  prevent  her  attendance  at 
the  chapel  first  thing  after  breakfast.  And,  rather 
to  her  surprise,  both  the  children  were  in  their  ac- 
customed seats,  though  she  had  given  instructions 
to  the  servants  that  they  were  not  to  be  disturbed, 
as  they  had  been  up  half  the  previous  night,  and 
must  be  feeling  very  tired  after  their  exertions. 

She  was,  however,  too  busy  to  notice  that  the 
boys  did  not  follow  her  out  of  the  chapel  when  the 
service  was  over,  but  continued  to  kneel  on  in  their 
places,  and  it  was  Mr.  Dalrymple  the  curate,  who 
had  that  day  taken  the  service,  who  observed  the 
two  little  kneeling  figures  as  he  passed  out  of  the 
tiny  vestry  on  his  way  out. 

Mr.  Dalrymple  knew  the  children  quite  well  by 
that  time,  and  was  on  friendly  terms  with  them  and 
with  their  big  brother ;  but  he  had  not  seen  indica- 
tions of  any  great  seriousness  in  either  of  them  so 

far,  and  therefore  he  was  a  little  surprised  at  their 

137 


138  A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

attitude  that  morning.  Moreover,  he  was  a  little 
puzzled  by  the  absence  of  Curly's  flowing  locks,  and 
as  he  had  heard  that  the  children  had  distinguished 
themselves  somewhat  the  previous  night,  he  thought 
he  would  wait  and  have  a  chat  with  them  by-and-by, 
and  hear  what  they  had  to  say  about  it  all. 

But  as  he  stood  waiting  for  them  to  come  out, 
watching  them  from  the  position  he  had  taken  up 
in  the  doorway,  he  felt  certain  by  the  heaving  of 
Bunny's  shoulders  that  he  was  crying  bitterly,  and 
presently  Curly  lifted  his  face  and  said  quite  audibly, 

"  Don't  cry  so,  Bunny.  If  you  do,  you'll  make  me 
cry  too,  and  I  do  so  want  to  be  brave.  If  we  cry, 
it  will  make  us  seem  like  girls,  and  it  won't  do  any 
good." 

And  at  those  words  the  curate  became  aware  that 
there  was  something  troubling  the  little  boys  ;  and 
coming  forward,  he  laid  a  kindly  hand  on  Curly's 
head. 

"Is  anything  the  matter,  my  little  man?"  he 
asked  in  the  low  tones  suitable  to  such  a  spot.  "  Is 
something  troubling  you  ?  " 

"  I'm  going  to  prison  to-day,"  answered  Curly 
seriously  but  steadily.  "  I'm  just  going  to  give 
myself  up  to  justice,  and  I  don't  know  if  I  shall 
ever  see  anybody  I  care  for  again,  because  I  think 
perhaps  they  may  hang  me  ;  and  we  stayed  to  say 
our  last  prayers  together  here.  I  feel  better  now 


A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  139 

because  I've  asked  God  to  take  care  of  me  even  in 
prison,  and  I  think  He  will.  It's  Bunny  who  cries 
about  it.  I  don't  mean  to  cry  if  I  can  help  it.  I 
want  to  be  brave.  I  feel  happier  than  I  did  when  I 
was  telling  a  lie  about  it." 

Mr.  Dalrymple  did  not  smile,  for  he  saw  that  it 
was  all  very  serious  and  real  to  the  children. 

"  I  am  glad  you  brought  your  trouble  here,"  he 
said.  "  You  could  not  have  taken  it  to  a  better  place. 
But  now  will  you  come  out  with  me  and  tell  me 
all  about  it  ?  Perhaps  I  might  be  able  to  help  you 
over  the  danger.  At  any  rate,  we  can  see  what  can 
be  done." 

Bunny  looked  up  with  eager  gratitude,  and  they 
both  rose  and  followed  their  friend  out  into  the  little 
quiet  cloister-walk  outside ;  and  when  they  were  all 
seated  in  the  embrasure  of  one  of  the  windows  he  said, 

"  That's  what  I  say.  I  feel  sure  Granny,  or  Phyl, 
or  Tor  would  help  us,  only  Curly  says  it  would  be 
misprision  of  treason  to  hide  him  or  keep  him  safe, 
and  we  won't  have  anybody  got  into  trouble  for 
him,  he  says." 

Mr.  Dalrymple  could  not  restrain  a  smile,  though 
he  laid  his  hand  approvingly  on  the  shorn  head  of 
the  younger  boy,  over  which  the  short  curls  were 
beginning  to  cluster  in  little  close  rings.  The  like- 
ness between  him  and  Tor  was  coming  out  very 
strongly  now. 


140  A   PAIR  OF  ORIGINALS 

"  That  is  a  brave  boy,  not  to  wish  to  involve  any- 
body else  in  his  trouble.  And  now,  Curly,  suppose 
you  tell  me  all  about  it,  and  let  us  see  if  anything 
can  be  done." 

"  I  let  the  cows  into  the  hayfield,  and  they  trod 
it  down  and  spoiled  a  great  deal  of  it.  And  when  I 
heard  them  say  the  man  who  did  it  would  be  sent 
to  prison  and  perhaps  hanged,  I  told  a  lie,  and  said 
I  hadn't  done  it,  and  I've  been  so  miserable  since  ; 
and  I  thought  last  night  if  I  could  only  do  some- 
thing to  help  Granny,  and  make  up  a  little  for  the 
harm  I'd  done,  I'd  tell  all  about  it  in  the  morning, 
and  go  to  prison  ;  and  now  I'm  going  to — I'd  rather 
be  in  prison  than  go  about  feeling  so  mean." 

The  clergyman  patted  the  child's  head  approv- 
ingly. He  had  heard  all  about  the  occurrence  of  a 
few  days  back,  and  the  suspicion  which  attached  to 
the  little  boy,  and  was  very  glad  to  hear  his  own 
account  of  the  matter,  and  understand  that  there 
had  been  stronger  temptation  than  anyone  had 
known  for  the  falsehood  of  which  he  had  been 
guilty. 

"  I'm  going  to  tell  Granny  first,"  he  concluded, 
"  and  then  I  shall  go  to  the  policeman  and  tell  him, 
and  give  myself  up."  And  the  child's  face  ex- 
pressed a  firmness  that  was  not  without  a  touch  of 
heroism  in  it. 

"  Yes,  you  should  certainly  tell  Lady  Chesterton 


A   PAIR   Of  ORIGINALS  141 

first,  and  then  she  will  tell  you  what  ought  to  be 
your  next  step  ;  but  as  she  is  very  busy  this  morn- 
ing, and  will  hardly  have  time  to  attend  to  your 
affairs,  suppose  you  come  home  with  me  and  see 
my  sister,  and  I  will  go  back  with  you  when  the 
time  comes,  if  you  like,  and  help  you  to  get  out  the 
confession." 

"  Oh,  thank  you,"  answered  Curly,  "  you  are  kind. 
I  should  like  to  be  free  one  more  day — if  you  do 
not  think  it  would  be  cowardly  to  put  it  off." 

"  No,  my  dear  little  boy,  I  do  not  think  it  would. 
And  I  think,  too,  you  will  find,  Curly,  that  you 
have  got  your  liberty  from  to-day.  You  have  been 
a  sort  of  prisoner  all  this  time,  but  you  have  broken 
your  chain  now,  and  I  hope  you  will  never  fix  it  on 
yourself  again." 

Curly  looked  up  puzzled,  but  he  was  too  much 
used  to  hear  talk  above  his  head  to  be  very  curious 
as  to  what  Mr.  Dalrymple  meant.  The  idea  of 
going  home  with  him  and  seeing  his  pretty,  kind 
sister,  who  kept  house  for  him,  was  pleasant,  and 
there  was  something  in  the  relief  of  having  made 
his  confession  to  a  clergyman,  and  of  having  got 
the  ice  well  broken,  that  could  not  but  bring  with 
it  much  relief.  He  could  not  draw  back  or  turn 
coward  now  ;  and  though  he  knew  all,  Mr.  Dal- 
rymple had  not  been  cross,  and  had  held  out  some 
vague  hopes  of  bringing  matters  to  a  somewhat 


142  A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

more  hopeful  conclusion  than  the  little  brothers 
had  dared  to  think  possible. 

As  for  Edith  Dalrymple,  she  laughed  so  much 
when  she  heard  their  story  that  at  first  they  thought 
her  almost  unkind,  only  that  she  made  amends  by 
a  great  deal  of  sympathy  afterwards,  and  was  so 
sure  that  something  would  be  done  to  lighten  the 
little  boy's  punishment  that  Bunny's  spirits  rose 
wonderfully,  and  even  Curly  began  to  hope  that 
there  might  be  some  "extenuating  circumstances" 
brought  out  in  his  favour  to  soften  the  hearts  of  the 
dreaded  police.  And  then  Edith  did  not  laugh 
about  the  falsehood  he  had  told,  but  talked  quite 
gravely  over  that,  and  when  they  had  exhausted  the 
subject  she  tried  to  make  them  enjoy  themselves 
by  taking  them  round  her  little  garden  and  showing 
them  her  tame  birds  in  her  little  aviary,  who  would 
come  and  sit  on  her  finger  or  her  shoulder,  and  who 
would  take  seeds  from  her  lips  or  ferret  about  for 
them  in  her  hair.  She  made  Curly  very  happy  by 
promising  that  if  he  went  to  prison  he  should  take 
one  of  her  tamest  birds  with  him,  and  it  almost 
seemed  to  the  little  boy  as  if  that  would  make  up 
for  everything. 

Edith  Dalrymple  came  from  a  house  where  were 
plenty  of  little  brothers  and  sisters,  so  that  she 
understood  the  ways  of  children  and  made  a  delight- 
ful companion.  She  was  Phyl's  greatest  friend  too, 


A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  143 

and  was  immensely  interested  in  the  account  of  the 
rescue  of  the  poor  suffocated  fowls  the  previous 
evening,  as  well  as  of  the  fire  itself;  and  the  morn- 
ing slipped  away  so  fast  that  when  Mr.  Dalrymple 
came  to  tell  them  that  it  was  time  to  be  going 
home,  they  could  hardly  believe  his  watch  could  be 
right. 

However,  they  both  left  the  house  in  a  much  more 
cheerful  frame  of  mind  than  they  had  entered  it;  and 
though  Curly  could  not  but  fear  that  he  had  seen 
the  last  of  pretty  Miss  Dalrymple  for  a  long  time  to 
come,  yet  he  remembered  the  promise  of  the  bird, 
and  found  great  consolation  in  the  thought. 

Granny  was  at  liberty  to  talk  to  them  when  the 
curate  led  the  pair  into  her  cool  north  parlour, 
whither  she  had  retired  for  a  little  rest  after  the 
busy  morning  of  discussion  and  examination  neces- 
sary after  the  casualty  of  the  previous  night ; 
and  she  looked  rather  surprised,  though  not  at 
all  displeased,  when  the  trio  made  their  appear- 
ance. 

Curly  did  not  flinch  or  hesitate.  He  did  not  even 
wait  for  the  clergyman  to  pave  the  way.  He  dis- 
engaged his  hand  from  that  of  his  friend  and  walked 
straight  up  to  Granny. 

"  I  want  to  tell  you  that  it  was  I  who  let  the  cows 
into  the  hayfield  the  other  night.  I  did  it  for  fun. 
I  didn't  know  it  would  do  so  much  harm ;  but  I 


144  A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

knew  it  was  naughty,  and  I  want  you  to  know  it 
was  I." 

"  I  knew  it  all  the  time,  Curly." 

Curly  stared  and  started,  hardly  believing  his  ears. 

"  But  you  didn't  send  me  to  prison." 

Granny  did  not  speak  for  a  moment,  and  Mr. 
Dalrymple  took  the  opportunity  of  saying, 

"  Curly  heard  some  talk  the  next  morning  which 
made  him  think  the  penahy  of  the  offence  was  im- 
prisonment, or  even  capital  punishment,  which  is  the 
main  reason  why  he  could  not  make  up  his  mind  to 
speak  out  before.  But  he  is  prepared  now  to  bear 
the  full  penalty.  He  is  convinced  that  it  would  be 
better  to  go  to  prison,  if  need  be,  than  to  have  a 
lie  upon  his  conscience." 

Granny  put  out  her  hand  and  drew  the  child  to- 
wards her. 

"  Is  that  so,  little  man  ?  Do  you  really  feel  that 
it  would  'be  better  to  be  punished  as  severely  as 
that,  rather  than  feel  that  you  are  deceiving  us  any 
longer  ?  " 

Curly  nodded  vehemently.  He  was  half  afraid  he 
might  cry  if  Granny  looked  at  him  in  that  kind  way 
much  longer.  The  excitement  through  which  he 
had  passed  during  the  past  hours  had  had  its  effect 
upon  him,  and  though  his  resolution  did  not  flinch, 
he  felt  terribly  afraid  he  might  disgrace  himself  by 
tears. 


A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  145 

"  Curly  never,  never  told  a  lie  before,"  broke  in 
Bunny  with  great  vehemence,  "  and  he'll  never  do  it 
again,  I  know,  because  it's  made  him  so  mis'rable. 
And  oh,  Granny,  if  he  does  go  to  prison,  mayn't  I 
go  too?  I'd  much  rather  be  with  him  there  than 
free  anywhere  else." 

"No,  no,  no!"  cried  Curly.  " Granny,  don't  let 
him.  I  won't  have  him  punished  too.  And,  Bunny, 
you've  got  to  be  outside  to  help  to  escape  me.  You 
couldn't  do  anything  if  you  were  shut  up  too." 

The  children  were  getting  so  excited,  and  the 
tears  were  so  very  near,  that  Granny  thought  it  time 
to  come  to  the  rescue. 

"  My  little  boys,"  she  said,  drawing  them  both  to 
her,  "  I  am  glad  to  see  you  both  so  brave  and  so 
much  attached  to  one  another,  but  I  cannot  have 
you  distress  yourselves  any  more  over  this  matter. 
It  is  not  a  case  of  prison  at  all.  It  was  a  piece  of 
mischief  that  deserved  some  punishment,  but  not 
of  such  a  kind ;  and  I  am  sure  the  author  of  it  has 
suffered  enough  as  it  is.  What  really  grieved  and 
troubled  me  most  was  the  lie  which  Curly  told, 
which  seemed  so  unnecessary,  as  you  have  never 
been  treated  harshly  by  any  one  since  you  came  to 
my  house.  But  I  understand  better  now  why  it 
was,  and  am  very  glad  to  find  how  heavily  it 
weighed  upon  your  conscience,  Curly.  Now  that 
you  have  told  all  the  truth  we  will  say  no  more 


146  A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

about  it,  and  I  think  you  will  have  learnt,  without 
any  preaching  from  me,  that  the  worst  kind  of 
prison  and  the  worst  kind  of  bondage  that  can  hap- 
pen to  us  is  when  we  put  ourselves  into  Satan's 
power  by  yielding  to  temptation  and  letting  him 
bind  his  heavy  chains  upon  us,  which  grow  heavier 
and  heavier  the  longer  we  wear  them,  and  which  are 
more  and  more  difficult  to  break  as  time  goes  by." 

Curly  looked  up  quickly  first  at  Granny  and  then 
at  Mr.  Dalrymple.     He  was  still  a  good  deal  bewil- 
dered, but  a  perception  was  beginning  to  enter  his 
head  that  after  all  things  were  not  going  to  be  so 
bad  for  him  as  he  had  believed. 
"  Was  that  what  you  meant  too  ?  " 
"  Yes,  Curly  ;  don't  you  think  it  is  true  ?  " 
"  Oh,  Granny ! "  burst  in  Bunny,  ecstatically,  "  and 
may  Curly  really  go  free,  and  aren't  you  going  to 
prosecute  ?     And  will  it  not  be  counted  misprision 
of  treason  if  you  don't  ?  " 

"  Bless  the  children !  where  do  they  get  their 
ideas  and  their  fine  words  from?  No,  my  dears, 
there  is  no  penalty  attaching  to  the  offence  your 
brother  has  committed  (if  you  can't  understand 
plain,  simple  language,  perhaps  you  can  understand 
grand  words  like  that).  Curly  is  forgiven  because  he 
has  manfully  confessed  his  fault,  as  he  would  have 
been  days  ago  if  he  could  have  made  up  his  mind 
to  be  as  brave  as  he  is  now.  I  am  very  glad  that 


A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  147 

the  cloud  has  all  blown  away,  and  I  hope  the  lesson 
you  will  both  learn  from  it  is,  firstly,  not  to  get  into 
wilful  mischief,  from  the  idea  that  it  is  going  to  be 
such  great  fun  ;  and  secondly,  that  if  you  have  done 
so,  not  to  be  afraid  of  speaking  the  truth  about  it. 
And  I  might  add,  thirdly,  not  to  pay  too  much 
heed  to  the  chance  words  of  gossip  you  pick  up 
from  uneducated  people,  who  do  not  always  know 
what  they  are  talking  about  any  better  than  you  do 
yourselves." 

And  so,  with  a  smile  and  a  nod,  Granny  dismissed 
her  two  little  visitors,  whilst  Mr.  Dalrymple  lingered 
behind  to  tell  his  tale ;  and  in  the  midst  Phyl  came 
in,  and  if  the  children  could  have  heard  all  that 
passed  they  might  have  been  a  good  deal  surprised 
at  hearing  themselves  so  much  praised.  As  it  was, 
they  were  almost  oppressed  by  the  magnitude  of 
the  deliverance  that  had  come  to  them,  and  squeez- 
ing up  close  together  they  climbed  up  to  their  own 
nurseries  to  pour  out  the  whole  story  to  the  kind 
and  sympathetic  Hannah,  who  almost  shed  tears  to 
think  what  they  must  have  suffered  whilst  they  be- 
lieved such  a  penalty  as  that  hung  over  their  heads. 

"You  might  have  told  old  Hannah,  honey,"  she 
said,  kissing  the  little  faces  that  were  damp  with  the 
few  tears  that  had  forced  their  way  out  in  spite  of 
every  attempt  to  check  them.  "  Bless  your  innocent 
little  hearts  !  did  you  think  us  all  so  hard-hearted  as 


148  A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

to  let  you  be  took  to  prison  all  for  a  bit  of  a 
joke?" 

"  Oh  no,  I  knew  you  would  all  be  sorry ;  but  it 
doesn't  do  to  resist  the  law,  you  know.  In  France 
they  had  something  they  called  the  '  justice  of  the 
king  ' — perhaps  they  have  it  still — and  it  meant  that 
if  people  resisted  the  law,  all  sorts  of  dreadful  things 
happened  to  them  ;  and  they  might  in  England  too, 
perhaps." 

"  Bless  your  little  hearts !  you've  stuffed  your 
pretty  heads  a  deal  too  full  of  them  old  history 
books,  which  might  frighten  honest  folks  to  death 
if  they  didn't  know  it  was  all  make-believe,  or  least- 
ways that  folks  know  better  in  these  days.  There, 
there,  dearies,  don't  go  for  to  think  about  it  any 
more.  I'm  sure  you  didn't  mean  no  harm,  and  you 
was  fair  frightened  into  a  bit  of  a  story,  which  I'm 
sure  you'll  never  tell  another.  You've  had  a  sharp 
bit  of  a  lesson,  and  you  won't  forget  it  in  a  hurry." 

Curly  was  quite  sure  he  never  should  ;  and  it  was 
such  a  relief  to  have  all  concealment  off  his  mind 
that  he  was  as  certain  as  child  could  be  that  a  lie 
was  worse  than  any  punishment. 

"  I  must  tell  Tor  all  about  it,"  he  said,  "  and  then 
I  shall  feel  quite  happy  again." 

But  he  could  not  go  to  Tor  with  his  story  that 
day,  for  he  was  shut  up  with  one  of  his  very  worst 
headaches,  and  could  bear  no  kind  of  light  or  sound, 


A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  149 

and  only  Hannah  had  the  right  of  going  in  and  out 
at  will.  Tor  was  suffering  from  the  effects  of  the 
exertions  he  had  made  at  the  fire  ;  and  whilst  he  was 
shut  up  in  his  room  knowing  nothing  at  all  about 
what  was  going  on,  other  people  were  praising  him, 
and  Granny  was  telling  all  her  friends  that,  so  far 
as  she  could  see,  she  owed  the  preservation  of  her 
house  to  the  coolness  and  presence  of  mind  of  her 
grandson,  who  saw  what  alone  could  save  the  main 
block  of  the  buildings,  and  by  precept  and  example 
urged  and  shamed  the  men  into  working  with  right 
good  will  to  stay  the  approach  of  the  fire,  which, 
without  those  efforts,  must  have  got  such  a  grip  of 
the  buildings  before  the  firemen  came  that  in  all 
probability  the  fine  old  house  would  have  fallen  a 
victim  to  the  conflagration. 

The  children  always  listened  with  great  interest 
to  what  was  said  in  praise  of  Tor  ;  and  Curly,  too, 
not  unfrequently  came  in  for  his  share  of  laudation 
for  the  prompt  and  fearless  way  he  had  rescued  the 
poor  fowls,  when  the  nearer  danger  to  the  house 
had  engrossed  the  minds  of  all  the  spectators. 
Phyl  had  rewarded  him  by  giving  him  some  of  her 
very  best  chickens  for  his  own,  and  so  he  had  re- 
signed to  Bunny  his  share  of  the  brood  Granny 
had  made  over  to  them,  and  they  each  had  their 
own  special  hen  and  chicks,  and  very  absorbing  did 
they  find  the  care  of  the  little  fluffy  things  to  be. 


T5°  A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

It  was  almost  like  the  beginning  of  their  own  farm, 
they  thought,  when  Granny  said  they  could  keep 
their  coops  under  an  open  shed  at  the  corner  of  the 
paddock,  and  bring  up  their  young  families  apart 
from  all  the  rest.  And  scon  a  nice  little  black  don- 
key made  his  appearance  in  the  paddock,  and  the 
delighted  children  heard  that  he  was  intended  for 
their  especial  use  and  behoof,  and  that  they  might 
drive  him  about  in  the  little  varnished  cart  which 
stood  in  the  coach-house,  and  which  had  once  be- 
longed to  Phyl  when  she  had  been  too  young  to 
drive  big  horses.  And  as  the  little  boys  had  a 
great  idea  of  being  independent  and  doing  every- 
thing for  themselves,  they  coaxed  Tor,  as  soon  as 
he  was  out  again,  to  show  them  how  to  harness  the 
donkey,  and  how  to  wash  the  cart  when  it  came  in  ; 
and  though  they  managed  to  get  themselves  in  a 
fine  mess  over  this  last  operation,  Granny  said  they 
were  quite  right  in  liking  to  wait  upon  themselves, 
and  encouraged  them  to  learn  all  they  could, 
and  be  as  little  dependent  upon  servants  as  need 
be. 

"And  if  you  are  ever  to  be  little  farmers,  you 
cannot  learn  such  things  too  young,"  she  said  with 
a  smile  ;  and  as  this  was  the  first  time  she  had  ever 
taken  notice  of  their  aspirations,  it  impressed  them 
a  good  deal.  "  You  may  change  your  minds  as  you 
grow  older,  but  knowledge  never  comes  amiss  to 


A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  151 

any  of  us ;  so  learn  all  you  can  whilst  you  have  the 
chance." 

The  little  boys  were  not  slow  to  follow  this 
advice,  and  every  facility  was  given  them  when  it 
once  became  apparent  that  they  were  in  earnest 
over  their  work.  They  were  allowed  to  dig  up  lit- 
tle plots  of  ground  in  "  their  paddock,"  as  they  soon 
learned  to  call  it,  and  plant  vegetables  and  flowers 
there ;  and  though  they  had  begun  a  little  late  to 
see  much  result,  yet  their  satisfaction  was  just  as 
great  as  if  they  had  the  whole  season  before  them. 
They  consulted  the  books  in  the  library  with  the 
greatest  zeal,  cross-questioned  Tor  till  he  used  to 
say  his  life  was  made  a  burden  to  him,  and  wan- 
dered all  over  the  farm  with  Phyl  or  Granny,  listen- 
ing to  her  talks  with  the  farm-men,  and  asking  all 
manner  of  questions  about  crops  and  stocks — for 
all  the  world  like  the  little  originals  that  Phyl  had 
first  dubbed  them. 

They  had  very  grand  plans  of  their  own  just 
then.  They  were  going,  with  the  help  of  Tor,  to 
make  a  sort  of  house  out  of  the  open  shed  which 
now  seemed  their  very  own,  and  when  that  matter 
was  accomplished  they  were  going  to  spend  their 
accumulated  •  pocket  -  money  in  a  few  necessary 
articles  of  furniture,  and  finally  take  up  their  abode 
there,  and  farm  the  paddock  so  successfully  that 
not  only  should  they  be  able  to  keep  themselves  in 


152  A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

comfort,  but  pay  a  little  rent  to  Granny  for  the  use 
of  her  land. 

There  were  to  be  oats  in  one  patch  of  the  land, 
wheat  in  another,  mangel-wurzel  in  another,  and 
potatoes  in  another.  The  rest  was  to  be  left  in 
grass  for  the  donkey  and  the  chickens,  and  they 
reckoned  on  their  fowls  for  supplying  them  with 
breakfast-eggs  and  poultry  for  the  table,  as  well  as 
for  a  margin  to  send  to  market  and  to  help  them 
in  stocking  their  farmery. 

"  I  do  think  p'raps  Granny  might  give  us  a  little 
cow,  and  then  we  could  make  milk  and  butter  too, 
and  then  we  should  get  lots  of  money  and  could  buy 
another;  or  perhaps  a  pig — I  know  pigs  are  very 
profitable,  and  we  could  get  plenty  of  pig-wash  from 
the  kitchen  to  feed  it  on.  I  know  cook  would  let  us 
come  for  it  if  we  didn't  make  a  mess.  I  can't  think 
why  Tor  says  farming  isn't  a  paying  concern.  I 
know  ours  will  pay — he'd  better  just  wait  and  see 
how  we  manage.  Then  perhaps  he'll  join  with  us, 
and  then  we  could  do  more.  He's  got  a  lot  of 
money,  though  he  says  he  hasn't.  I  saw  it  in  a 
drawer.  I  should  think  he's  got  four  or  five 
pounds.  One  could  make  anything  pay  with  a 
capital  like  that." 

Curly  looked  much  impressed,  as  he  always  did 
when  Bunny  used  a  word  he  did  not  understand. 

"  Yes,  wouldn't  it  be  capital !     I  wish  we  had  as 


A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  153 

much.  But  Phyl  is  very  good-natured,  and  so  is 
Granny  too.  They  will  give  us  a  lot  of  things,  I 
dare  say,  when  once  we're  started.  I  wonder  how 
soon  we  might  begin." 

"We  must  get  a  lease  of  the  land  first,"  said 
Bunny  with  an  air  of  authority. 

"What's  that?" 

"  Well,  I  know,  but  I  don't  think  I  can  quite 
explain ;  but  we  ought  not  to  begin  to  lay  out  any 
money  on  the  property  till  we  have  got  one.  I 
do  know  that.  I  wonder  if  Tor  could  tell  us  how 
to  get  it." 

Bunny  ran  off  to  ask,  and  presently  came  back 
with  a  piece  of  paper  in  his  hand,  and  a  forehead 
puckered  into  lines  of  solemn  gravity. 

"  Well,  he  wasn't  in  one  of  his  best  moods,  and 
he  didn't  care  to  be  bothered  much  ;  but  he  an- 
swered some  of  my  questions,  and  so  I  think  I 
can  do  it ;  only  we'd  better  go  into  the  library  and 
get  a  big  sheet  of  paper  with  lines,  and  I  think  we 
ought  to  make  a  great  seal  on  it  when  it's  done, 
because  I  don't  think  any  paper  is  valid  without 
being  signed  and  sealed." 

Curly's  eyes  were  round  with  admiration  and 
awe.  He  did  think  Bunny  was  clever  to  know  so 
much,  and  he  watched  him  with  the  closest  atten- 
tion as  he  took  a  sheet  of  foolscap  and  began  his 
laborious  task. 


154  A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

It  was  no  easy  matter  to  get  the  deed  drawn  up. 
Curly  would  have  given  it  up  in  despair  very  s6on, 
but  Bunny  plodded  on  with  great  deliberation,  and 
some  satisfaction  at  the  even  look  of  his  best  writ- 
ing. It  took  him  quite  an  hour  to  complete  the 
document,  and  then,  with  a  face  flushed  with  the 
pride  of  success,  he  called  Curly  to  him  to  listen  to  it. 

So  he  cleared  his  throat  and  began. 

"'In  Chancery,  this  first  day  of  June,  1886.  O 
yes,  O  yes,  O  yes.' ' 

"  What  does  that  mean  ?  "  asked  Curly,  with  his 
elbows  on  the  table  and  a  look  of  keen  interest  on 
his  face. 

"  Well,  I  don't  quite  know ;  but  legal  documents 
always  begin  with  a  preamble,  and  I  thought  that 
was  a  nice  one." 

"  So  it  is ;  very  nice  indeed.     Go  on." 

" '  Whereas  the  venerable  Lady  Chesterton  has 
a  paddock  that  she  doesn't  want  and  we  do,  and 
whereas  the  said  Bunny  and  Curly  her  august 
grandsons  are  willing  to  pay  a  just  and  lawful  rent 
for  the  said  paddock  and  all  the  appurtenances 
thereof,  it  is  hereby  agreed  that  the  said  Granny 
shall  let  them  have  it  to  do  as  they  like  with  for  a 
period  not  exceeding  seventy  years,  and  that  we 
shall  give  her  in  lieu  of  the  said  paddock  and  his 
appurtenances  the  sum  of  one  shilling  per  quarter, 
to  be  taken  off  our  pocket-money  when  papa  gives 


A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  155 

it  to  us,  and  that  the  defendants  shall  have  the 
right  to  do  as  they  like  with  the  paddock  and  build 
a  house  upon  it,  and  that  the  said  Granny  will  per- 
haps be  so  very  kind  as  to  give  them  some  stock  to 
start  us,  as  we  have  only  got  a  few  chickens  and  a 
donkey  (which  is  really  yours)  to  begin  with. 

" '  God  save  the  Queen.  Signed,  Bunny  and 
Curly.' " 

"  Oh,  Bunny,  how  nice  it  sounds — only  I  didn't 
sign." 

"  No,  I  did  it  for  you.  I  thought  you  wouldn't 
write  well  enough.  I  think  it  would  be  best  for  me 
to  sign  for  Granny  too.  It  always  looks  so  much 
better  for  a  document  to  be  in  one  handwriting." 

"  Then  why  don't  you  sign  for  her?" 

"  Oh,  because  she  must  agree  to  it  first,  and  then 
somebody  will  sign.  If  I  did  it  without  leave  it 
would  be  forgery." 

Curly  heaved  a  great  sigh. 

"  Oh,  Bunny,  what  a  lot  you  do  know  !  I  think 
you  ought  to  be  a  lawyer  instead  of  a  farmer." 

"  Well,"  answered  Bunny,  thoughtfully,  "  I've 
heard  people  say  that  a  knowledge  of  the  law  is 
useful  to  everybody,  whatever  they  are,  and  you 
see  how  useful  it  has  been  to  us  already ;  for  if  we 
had  had  to  get  a  lawyer  to  draw  our  lease  he 
might  have  charged  quite  half-a-crown  for  it,  and 
now  we've  got  it  for  nothing.  But  let  us  go  and 
talk  to  Granny  now." 


CHAPTER  IX 

BUT  in  the  end  the  lease  was  not  taken  straight 
to  Granny.  There  was  not  sufficient  sealing-wax 
in  the  library  to  satisfy  Bunny's  aspirations  in  the 
matter  of  seals,  and  it  was  judged  better  to  submit 
the  document  first  to  Tor,  to  see  what  he  said  to 
it,  and  to  enlist  his  help  in  the  matter. 

Tor  was  gradually  getting  over  the  effects  of  the 
fire,  though  his  exertions  on  that  night  had  hin- 
dered his  recovery  and  thrown  him  back  a  good 
deal ;  but  then,  on  the  other  hand,  Granny  had 
seemed  to  think  a  great  deal  of  him  ever  since, 
was  always  praising  him  behind  his  back,  and  con- 
sulting him  about  different  things  when  he  found 
his  way  downstairs,  and  it  was  quite  plain  even  to 
the  children  that  their  brother  began  to  occupy  an 
important  position  in  their  grandmother's  house,  and 
that  he  was  appreciated  as  much  as  even  they  had 
dared  to  hope. 

He  was  very  kind,  too,  about  the  lease,  read  it 
through  and  pronounced  it  a  first-rate  article  of  its 
kind,  complimented  Bunny  on  his  legal  acumen — 

156 


IN  THE  PADDOCK. 


Page  157 


A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  157 

whatever  that  was — and  did  even  more  than  they 
had  ventured  to  hope  for  its  embellishment. 

He  made  the  most  beautiful  flourishes  to  all  the 
capitals,  which  could  not  fail,  as  Bunny  explained 
to  Curly,  to  make  it  absolutely  valid  in  the  eyes  of 
the  law  ;  and  at  the  suggestion  of  the  little  lawyer, 
added  the  letters  Q.  E.  D.  in  illuminated  capitals  at 
the  end,  and  then  he  actually  gave  them  sixpence 
to  expend  in  the  purchase  of  sealing-wax,  and  him- 
self made  three  huge  and  impressive  seals,  such  as 
the  little  brothers  associated  in  their  minds  with  the 
charters  and  ancient  documents  they  had  seen  in 
the  British  Museum  on  visits  there ;  and  really  when 
that  was  accomplished  their  cup  of  satisfaction 
seemed  full,  and  they  almost  felt  as  if  they  were 
already  the  possessors  of  the  coveted  paddock. 

Tor  quite  entered  into  all  their  plans.  He  came 
down  to  look  at  the  shed,  and  told  them  just  what 
would  be  wanted  to  make  it  into  a  sort  of  hut,  such 
as  backwoodsmen  would  live  in.  Indeed  he  did 
not  stop  short  with  telling  only,  but  he  got  a  few 
planks  from  the  carpenter  and  some  rough  fir-trunks 
from  the  wood-barn,  and  soon  began  to  give  an  air 
of  possible  habitation  to  the  place,  whilst  the  little 
brothers  worked  with  a  right  good  will,  and  were  as 
much  astonished  as  enchanted  at  the  rapidity  with 
which  the  shed  was  transformed. 

It  is  true  that  there  were  big  gaps  between  the 


158  A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

planks  and  fir-posts  which  made  a  semblance  of 
wall,  but  Tor  instructed  them  to  go  and  get  fern 
and  furze  and  stuff  it  in  as  a  further  protection. 
There  was  lots  of  last  year's  dead  brake  to  be  had 
in  the  woods,  and  the  little  boys  got  quite  clever  in 
nailing  up  little  cross-way  pieces  and  twisting  in  the 
brown  fern,  which  gave  a  very  picturesque  look  to 
their  house,  and  made  it  resemble,  at  least  in  their 
own  eyes,  one  of  the  ancient  dwelling-places  of  the 
early  Britons. 

"  I  don't  know  if  we  ought  to  improve  the  prop- 
erty so  much  before  the  lease  is  signed,"  Bunny 
once  remarked  to  Tor;  but  he  answered  that  it 
might  be  well  for  Granny  to  see,  before  the  request 
was  made,  what  good  tenants  she  was  going  to 
secure  by  the  bargain  to  be  struck;  and  that  quite 
satisfied  both  children,  who  decided  to  do  all  they 
could  for  the  adornment  of  their  hut  before  the 
great  document  was  posted  at  all. 

Bunny  was  determined  that  it  should  go  through 
the  post. 

"  It's  so  much  more  business-like,  you  know,"  he 
explained  to  Curly.  "  Papa  often  says  so  to  the 
girls  when  they  want  him  to  arrange  something  for 
them  instead  of  writing;  and  when  Granny  is  a 
little  less  busy,  we'll  send  it ;  but  Phyl  says  she  is 
too  busy  just  now  to  want  to  have  anything  else 
important  on  her  mind." 


A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  159 

Curly  was  always  willing  to  be  guided  by  his  wise 
elder  brother,  and  it  was  easy  to  see  that  Granny 
was  very  busy  just  now,  and  had  a  good  deal  on  her 
mind.  She  wrote  a  great  many  letters  every  day, 
and  had  her  great  books  often  on  the  table  beside 
her,  and  spent  long  hours  poring  over  them  and 
making  calculations.  She  had  long  interviews  with 
her  bailiff  too,  and  altogether  the  children  got  the 
idea  that  something  important  and  rather  mysteri- 
ous was  on  foot ;  but  nobody  seemed  to  know  what 
it  was  except  Phyl,  and  she  kept  her  own  counsel, 
only  laughing  when  the  little  brothers  questioned 
her,  and  telling  them  they  were  as  curious  as  girls 
— which  accusation  always  closed  Curly's  lips  and 
made  him  feel  very  indignant. 

And  yet  they  could  not  help  feeling  that  the 
secrets  which  were  evidently  afoot  were  in  some 
way  connected  with  themselves — how  much  they 
could  not  determine ;  but  they  were  certain  from 
Phyl's  manner,  as  well  as  from  hints  unwittingly 
dropped  by  old  Hannah,  that  they  should  find  out 
in  the  end  that  there  was  some  connection  with 
themselves  and  their  affairs.  They  could  not 
imagine  what  it  could  be,  and  Tor  only  laughed  at 
them,  and  told  them  they  fancied  it  all.  He  did 
not  seem  as  much  aware  as  they  were  that  there 
was  some  commotion  going  on.  He  told  them  that 
Granny  was  only  busy  because  it  was  a  busy  time 


160  A    PAIR    OF  ORIGINALS 

of  year,  and  that,  as  she  was  her  own  steward,  she 
had  her  hands  very  full,  especially  as  several  of  her 
farms  were  unlet  and  she  had  to  farm  them  herself, 
in  addition  to  the  home-farm  which  she  always  kept 
in  her  own  hands. 

This  explanation  did  not  quite  satisfy  the  little 
boys.  However,  they  saw  that  Tor  believed  what 
he  said,  and  could  tell  them  nothing  more  ;  so  they 
bottled  up  their  curiosity  as  well  as  they  could,  and 
gave  themselves  over  to  the  improvement  of  their 
little  estate,  and  made  such  progress  there  that 
they  were  astonished  at  their  own  skill  and  clever- 
ness. 

And  a  surprise  was  in  store  for  them  of  which 
they  little  dreamed,  and  which  at  first  filled  them 
with  an  astonishment  that  bordered  on  dismay,  for 
they  could  not  think  what  it  all  meant,  and  were 
terribly  afraid  that  it  might  be  the  beginning  of  the 
downfall  of  all  their  brightest  hopes. 

For  this  surprise  was  nothing  more  nor  less  than 
a  sudden  incursion  from  London  of  their  father, 
accompanied  by  three  of  the  girls. 

It  happened  the  very  day  after  that  on  which 
they  had  posted  to  Granny  the  important  docu- 
ment in  which  they  had  taken  such  pride  and  de- 
light. The  posting  had  been  a  serious  matter,  for 
there  was  great  fear  lest  the  precious  seals  should 
suffer  in  the  transit.  Tor  had,  however,  produced  a 


A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  161 

big  piece  of  strong  tin-foil  in  which  to  encase  it,  and 
they  were  informed  by  their  friend  Watkins  on  the 
following  morning  that  the  precious  packet  had 
been  duly  unearthed  from  the  post-bag  by  his  mis- 
tress when  he  had  brought  it  to  her  at  breakfast- 
time. 

"  Will  she  answer  by  post,  or  will  she  tell  us  what 
she  means  to  do  when  we  see  her  ? "  asked  Curly, 
capering  with  excitement. 

"  I  don't  know  ;  perhaps  she  will  send  her  answer 
through  her  solicitor,"  answered  Bunny.  "  Lots  of 
people  do  that  when  it's  business,  you  know,  though 
Granny  seems  to  manage  her  own  affairs  herself 
generally.  She  didn't  say  anything  about  it  after 
chapel,  as  she  might  have  done.  I  dare  say  she 
wants  time  to  consider  about  it.  When  people  are 
big  they  take  a  very  long  time  to  make  up  their 
minds,  especially  when  things  are  important.  I've 
often  noticed  that  about  them." 

"  Let's  go  to  our  hut  and  see  how  it  looks.  Do 
you  think  she  will  come  and  see  what  we  have 
done  ?  You  know  we've  never  told  her  what  we've 
been  doing — only  Phyl  and  Tor." 

"I  dare  say  Phyl  has  told  her.  I  think  Phyl 
would  be  pleased  for  us  to  squat  here.  She  likes 
us." 

"  To  squat  ?  What's  that  ?  I  shall  run  about 
mostly  ;  I  don't  care  about  squatting." 


1 62  A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

"  Oh,  but  I  mean  squatting  in  its  technical  sense," 
replied  Bunny;  at  which  mysterious  phrase  Curly 
looked  so  astonished  that  he  condescended  to  ex- 
plain— Tor  having  used  the  mysterious  expression 
to  him  shortly  before,  in  Curly's  absence,  so  that 
he  felt  in  a  position  to  show  off  his  superior  knowl- 
edge. 

"Squatting  doesn't  mean  what  you  think — at 
least  not  always.  It's  what  they  call  it  in  Ireland 
and  Australia  and  lots  of  other  places  when  people 
take  a  piece  of  land  that  nobody  wants  and  settle 
there,  and  cultivate  it  for  themselves,  and  pay  just 
a  little  rent  or  perhaps  no  rent  for  it.  We  mean  to 
pay  Granny,  of  course  ;  but  Tor  called  us  squat- 
ters— I  thought  it  was  rather  a  nice  name." 

Curly  thought  so  too,  and  they  played  very  hap- 
pily at  being  squatters  all  that  morning,  and  were 
more  eager  than  ever  to  have  a  favourable  answer 
to  their  request ;  but  when  they  ran  towards  the 
house,  when  the  preparation-gong  had  sounded 
shortly  before  luncheon,  they  saw  the  carriage  just 
driving  away  to  the  stable-yard,  as  though  some- 
body had  been  out  that  morning  ;  and  it  was  so 
unusual  for  Granny  or  Phyl  to  drive  out  in  the  fore- 
noon that  they  were  quite  surprised,  and  wondered 
what  could  have  happened  to  make  them  break 
their  usual  habits. 

"  Perhaps  Granny  went  to  consult  her  solicitor," 


A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  163 

suggested  Bunny,  and  on  the  whole  that  seemed 
the  most  probable  solution  of  the  riddle. 

Hannah  was  smiling  rather  mysteriously  as  she 
helped  them  to  wash  their  faces  and  brush  their 
hair  before  they  went  downstairs,  and  she  made 
them  change  their  jackets,  too,  and  spruce  them- 
selves up  with  unusual  care;  and  then  it  occurred  to 
them  that  perhaps  the  carriage  had  brought  visitors 
to  lunch,  arid  Hannah  said  this  was  so,  though  she 
did  not  say  who  the  visitors  were,  and  the  children 
did  not  feel  interested  enough  to  ask,  though  they 
might  easily  have  wormed  the  secret  out  of  Han- 
nah. They  were  rather  sorry  people  had  come, 
as  it  might  hinder  Granny  from  giving  them  an  an- 
swer concerning  the  paddock,  about  which  they  were 
growing  quite  excited. 

"  You  can  run  down  to  the  drawing-room,  dear- 
ies, and  see  the  company,"  said  Hannah  when  they 
were  ready;  and  as  the  little  brothers  approached 
the  door  of  that  room,  they  looked  at  one  another 
in  startled  dismay,  for  in  the  sound  of  voices  and 
laughter  which  proceeded  thence  they  clearly  recog- 
nised the  tones  of  their  father  and  the  girls — or  at 
least  some  of  them  ;  and  the  horrid  idea  seized 
upon  both  of  them  at  once  that  their  relatives  had 
come  for  the  express  purpose  of  carrying  them  off 
home  again. 

"  And   before   our  lease   is    signed ! "  whispered 


164  A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

Curly  in  accents  of  despair.  "Shall  we  run  away 
before  they  have  seen  us  ?  Could  we  hide  in  our 
hut  till  they  have  gone  ?  " 

Bunny  shook  his  head  gloomily. 

"  They  may  be  here  for  days — it's  no  good  trying 
to  escape ;  the  only  thing  to  do  now  is  to  wait  and 
see  what  they  mean  to  do,  and  if  we  can't  stand  it, 
we  can  appeal." 

"  Who  to  ?  "  asked  Curly  in  a  whisper. 

"  Oh,  I  don't  quite  know  straight  off ;  but  people 
always  can  appeal,  you  know,  if  things  are  not  fair. 
There's  the  Court  of  Chancery,  you  know,  and  the 
Court  of  Common  Pleas,  and  lots  of  others  too ; 
and  I  believe  one  can  appeal  to  the  House  of 
Lords  if  nobody  else  will  do  one  justice." 

So  Curly,  somewhat  relieved  by  the  thought  of 
future  possibilities,  and  full  of  confidence  in  his 
brother's  powers  to  find  a  way  out  of  any  difficulty, 
put  a  bold  face  on  the  matter,  and  marched  into 
the  room  with  his  manliest  air. 

Yes,  they  had  not  been  mistaken.  There  was 
papa,  sitting  by  Granny,  and  "  Miss,"  who  looked 
rather  black  and  dignified,  listening  rather  than 
talking  to  Phyl ;  whilst  Ethel  and  Madge  were  on 
the  sofa,  one  on  each  side  of  Tor,  and  were  chat- 
tering away  to  him  very  fast,  full  of  spirits  as 
usual,  and  not  at  all  embarrassed,  as  it  seemed,  by 
the  novelty  of  this  family  gathering  at  the  Priory. 


A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  165 

The  entrance  of  the  little  boys  effected  a  diver- 
sion, and  everybody  turned  to  look  at  them. 

"  Oh  Curly,  Curly,  your  hair ! "  cried  Madge. 
"What  have  you  done  with  your  curls?" 

"  Oh,  they  got  burnt  up  the  night  of  the  fire,  and 
Phyl  cut  them  off  with  her  scissors,"  answered  the 
child,  complacently  stroking  his  cropped  head  with 
its  little  rings  of  yellow  silk.  "  It  saves  a  lot  of 
trouble.  My  hair  doesn't  take  any  longer  to  do 
than  Bunny's  now." 

'•  And  you  look  just  like  a  small  edition  of  Tor," 
remarked  Ethel. 

This  comparison,  which  was  not  unfrequently 
made  in  these  days,  always  pleased  Curly  very 
much,  and  he  was  more  gracious  than  he  had  in- 
tended to  be  in  his  greetings  to  his  relatives,  whose 
motives  in  this  sudden  appearance  had  seemed,  to 
him  at  the  least  suspicious.  However,  the  an- 
nouncement of  lunch  prevented  any  explanation 
from  being  offered  then,  and  it  was  only  when  the 
meal  was  ended,  and  Madge,  who  was  youthful 
enough  to  enjoy  an  escape  from  the  elders,  had 
run  off  with  them  into  the  garden,  that  they  learnt 
what  it  was  all  about.  Madge  seemed  in  great 
good-humour,  though  her  words  savoured  something 
of  a  reproach. 

"  You  little  wretches !  what  sort  of  things  have 
you  been  saying  of  us  ?  Do  you  know  what  a  revo- 


1 66  A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

lution  you  have  effected  amongst  you — you  and  Tor 
together — in  the  household?  Maud  doesn't  bless 
you,  I  can  tell  you.  She  is  awfully  offended  by  it 
all ;  but  I  don't  think  it  will  be  half  bad  myself. 
One  is  rather  sick  of  things  going  all  any- 
how." 

"  I  don't  understand,"  said  Bunny.  "  What  is 
going  to  happen  ?  and  what  have  we  done  ? " 

"  Don't  you  know  anything  about  it  ?  Hasn't 
anybody  told  you  ?  " 

"  No  ;  Granny  doesn't  talk  to  us  about  grown-up 
sort  of  things.  We  don't  do  things  here  as  you  do 
at  home.  They  go  right  of  themselves,  without  any 
fuss." 

Madge  laughed  at  this  remark. 

"  Yes,  I  suppose  so — or  rather.  Granny,  as  you  call 
her,  knows  how  to  manage  without  all  the  fuss  that 
Maud  makes  over  her  arrangements.  Well,  any- 
how, there's  to  be  a  change  now.  We  are  to  have 
a  proper  chaperon  and  companion,  and  she  is  to 
manage  the  house  and  the  servants,  and  we  are 
not  to  go  about  just  as  we  like  and  manage  things 
our  own  way  any  more.  Some  of  them  are  furious ; 
but  I  don't  think  I  mind.  I  often  think  when  I  go 
to  other  girls'  homes  that  they  are  much  nicer  than 
ours,  though  they  don't  do  so  much  just  what  they 
like." 

This  was  all  very  surprising  indeed. 


A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  167 

"  But  what  have  we  got  to  do  with  it  ?  "  asked 
Bunny. 

"  Well,  didn't  you  first  put  it  into  Granny's  head 
that  things  were  very  queer  at  home  ?" 

"  I  don't  know.  We  only  told  her  what  you  used 
to  say  and  do." 

Madge  could  not  help  laughing. 

"  Well,  perhaps  that  was  it — or  perhaps  it  was 
the  way  we  let  Tor  get  so  ill  amongst  us.  It  was 
rather  a  shame,  but  really  we  were  so  busy,  and 
one  couldn't  do  him  any  good  by  sitting  with 
him,  and  he  did  not  seem  to  wish  it,  so  we  got 
into  the  way  of  just  letting  him  alone  ;  and  Maud 
wanted  his  room  for  some  visitors  of  hers,  and 
stuck  him  up  in  a  poky  little  hole  that  made  him 
worse — and  that  was  a  shame  I  admit,  though,  as 
he  didn't  say  anything,  we  did  not  know  he  minded 
it  much.  And  at  any  rate  he  can  be  grateful  to 
us  now.  For  it  has  led  to  all  this  good  luck  for 
him — and  I  know  papa  thinks  he  is  an  uncom- 
monly fortunate  fellow  now." 

"  Oh,  is  he  ?  I'm  so  glad.  What  has  happened 
to  him  ?" 

"  Don't  you  know?" 

"  No,  we  don't  know  anything." 

"  What  !  not  that  grandmother  is  going  to  make 
him  her  land-agent,  and  put  him  into  one  of  her 
empty  farms  hereabouts  to  live,  and  let  him  man- 


1 68  A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

age  her  property  for  her,  now  that  she  is  getting 
old,  with  a  nice  little  income  for  his  trouble?" 

"  No,  we  did  not  know.  Oh,  Bunny,  isn't  it 
just  what  we  always  advised  Granny  to  do  ?  Oh, 
how  delicious !  And,  Bunny,  if  we  can't  squat  on 
Granny's  paddock,  we  will  go  and  squat  on  his 
farm  ;  and  perhaps  when  he  sees  how  well  we  man- 
age, he  will  take  us  on  as  labourers  or  some- 
thing. You  might  be  his  solicitor,  you  know, 
Bunny,  when  he  wanted  to  know  about  the 
law." 

But  Bunny  was  looking  at  Madge  rather  suspi- 
ciously. Was  she  going  to  tell  them  that  they  were 
to  come  back  to  town  when  the  others  of  their 
family  left  ?  After  all,  they  had  paid  Granny  a  long 
visit  as  it  was  ;  and  although  he  saw  no  valid  reason 
why  he  and  Curly  should  not  set  up  for  themselves 
in  their  precious  hut,  he  was  aware  that  the  project 
might  not  appeal  to  the  minds  of  grown-up  folks  as 
a  very  feasible  one. 

"  Curly  and  I  think  of  setting  up  for  ourselves," 
he  remarked  in  an  off-hand,  independent  way, 
though  he  was  watching  Madge's  face  rather  close- 
ly all  the  time.  "  We  don't  care  about  living  in 
London  ;  the  country  suits  us  much  better." 

Madge  laughed  as  she  said, 

"  Oh,  so  you  have  been  coming  round  on  the  soft 
side  of  Granny,  have  you  ?  Getting  her  to  fight 


A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  169 

your  battle  and  win  papa  over  to  your  plans? 
Wise  children!" 

The  little  boys  looked  at  each  other  and  at 
Madge,  and  wondered  what  these  words  meant. 

"  We've  always  told  people  that  we  want  to  live 
in  the  country  and  have  a  farm,  but  we  did  not 
know  Granny  meant  to  give  us  one.  Is  she  going 
to,  Madge  ?  Is  she  going  to  let  us  have  the  hut, 
and  squat  on  the  paddock?  ' 

It  was  Madge's  turn  to  stare  now,  as  she  said, 

"  I  don't  know  what  you  are  talking  about ;  but 
don't  you  know  that  you  are  to  go  to  the  Dal- 
rymples'  soon — Mr.  Dalrymple  is  a  clergyman,  I 
believe,  and  has  a  sister  living  with  him — to  be 
his  pupils  ?  He  has  time,  it  seems,  for  a  pair  of 
shrimps  like  you,  and  as  he  isn't  rich,  he  will  be 
very  glad  of  the  care  of  you,  and  he  and  his 
sister  are  to  teach  you  between  them,  and  Granny 
will  look  after  you  and  see  that  you  are  properly 
cared  for.  That's  chiefly  what  papa  and  Maud 
have  come  about — to  see  Mr.  and  Miss  Dalrymple 
and  arrange  about  you.  As  you've  had  your  holi- 
days now,  you  are  to  begin  lessons  there  pretty 
soon — as  soon  as  matters  are  properly  settled.  Do 
you  mean  that  you  did  not  know?" 

The  astonished  faces  of  the  little  pair  gave  an- 
swer sufficient.  It  was  plain  that  they  had  never 
heard  a  word  about  all  this  before. 


170  A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

"  But  Miss  Mertens — won't  she  come  back  any 
more — won't  she  be  sorry  ? " 

"  Oh  no,  that's  partly  what  set  it  going.  Miss 
Mertens'  uncle  in  Australia,  that  she  used  to  talk 
about,  has  sent  for  her  to  go  over  to  him  and  keep 
house  for  him,  and  as  soon  as  she's  well  enough 
she  will  go.  She  wrote  to  tell  us  she  was  not 
coming  back,  and  that  made  papa  write  to  Granny 
for  advice  about  another  governess — and  then  came 
all  this  hullabaloo." 

"Whathullaballoo?" 

"  Oh,  about  the  way  things  were  going  on  at 
home.  You  know  Granny  is  not  one  to  interfere 
in  other  people's  affairs,  but  when  papa  asked  her 
advice,  she  said  very  decidedly  that  she  advised 
your  not  being  educated  at  home  any  longer,  as 
there  did  not  seem  a  very  desirable  tone  in  the 
household — or  something  of  that  sort — and  of  course 
that  set  papa  in  a  fuss,  and  he  wrote  a  lot  of  times, 
and  routed  about  and  got  in  a  fluster ;  and  the  end 
of  it  all  is  that  we  are  to  have  a  dragoness  to  take 
care  of  us,  and  that  you  are  to  go  to  Mr.  Dalrymple 
to  be  educated.  And  Tor  is  to  be  Granny's  land- 
agent  and  live  down  here  too,  and  that  is  why  Ethel 
and  I  said  we'd  come  too.  We  should  like  to  see 
his  new  house,  and  perhaps  help  him  to  furnish  it — 
if  he  doesn't  bear  malice  for  the  way  we  treated  him 
when  he  was  in  disgrace." 


A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  171 

"  Isn't  he  in  disgrace  now,  then  ?  " 

"  Oh  no ;  he's  not  a  failure  any  longer,  now  that 
Granny  has  taken  him  up.  Indeed  his  prospects 
are  better  than  any  of  the  boys',  except  Ronald's, 
now.  Granny  is  a  rich  woman,  and  can  do  as  she 
likes  with  her  money.  It  seems  very  likely,  under 
present  circumstances,  that  she  will  make  Tor  her 
heir." 

The  little  brothers  did  not  quite  understand,  but 
they  thought  it  sounded  very  interesting  and  rather 
romantic. 

"  Tor  likes  Granny,  and  Granny  likes  him.  They 
are  always  teasing  one  another,  but  they  are  quite 
fond  of  each  other,  I  know." 

"  Yes,  that  is  very  plain  ;  Tor  always  was  the  one 
in  the  family  who  liked  her,  and  was  not  afraid  of 
the  rough  side  of  her  tongue.  We  had  our  chance, 
and  we  all  of  us  lost  it ;  so  it  is  fair  he  should  have 
his  turn." 

"And  about  our  paddock — oh,  Madge,  will  you 
come  to  see  it  ?  Do  you  think  we  can  squat  there, 
if  we  live  at  Mr.  Dalrymple's  ?  " 

And  as  Madge  was  hurried  off  to  look  at  the 
paddock  and  its  precious  hut,  the  whole  story  was 
poured  into  her  ears;  and  though  she  was  not  as 
sympathetic  and  interested  as  Phyl  over  the  chil- 
dren's concerns,  still  she  was  very  merry  and  good- 
natured,  and  laughed  a  great  deal  at  most  of  the 


172  A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

things  they  said,  and  declared  that  she  thought 
Granny  might  very  likely  give  it  them  to  play  on 
just  as  they  liked,  though  she  did  not  seem  to  under- 
stand that  what  they  wanted  was,  not  play,  but  to 
undertake  serious  farming  operations  which  were  to 
be  productive  and  lucrative.  She  admired  their  hut 
a  good  deal,  however,  and  thought  it  did  them  great 
credit,  though  she  would  not  do  anything  but  laugh 
when  they  explained  how  it  was  to  be  made  into  a 
real  living-place  for  themselves  and  their  stock. 
And  whilst  they  were  in  the  midst  of  their  explana- 
tions, who  should  approach  the  spot  but  Granny 
herself,  and  with  her  the  whole  of  the  party ;  and  in 
her  hands  she  carried  the  lease,  and  both  she  and 
the  children's  father,  though  grave  enough  now, 
looked  as  if  they  had  been  laughing  a  good  deal 
not  long  before. 

Curly  could  restrain  his  impatience  no  longer,  but 
rushed  eagerly  up  to  the  advancing  party. 

"  Oh,  Granny,  have  you  come  to  sign  the  lease  ? 
Do  you  know  Bunny  drew  it  up  his  very  own  self  ? 
I  dare  say  you  thought  it  had  been. done  by  a  so- 
licitor— didn't  you  ?  But  I  do  assure  you  it  was 
Bunny.  He  does  know  such  a  lot  about  the  law. 
And  oh,  Granny  dear,  will  you  sign  it,  please  ?  For 
we  do  so  want  it — and  we  will  be  such  good  farmers 
that  I'm  sure  you  will  never  be  sorry." 

And   with  a  smiling   face    Granny  held    out   the 


A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  173 

imposing  document  to  him  ;  and  Curly  saw  beneath 
their  own  names,  written  by  Bunny,  a  new  and 
imposing  word  added,  and  this  word  he  made  out 
to  be  "  GRANNY,"  written  in  flourishing  capitals  ; 
and  with  a  little  shriek  of  delight  he  ran  back  to 
his  brother. 

"  Bunny,  Bunny,  she  has  signed  it,  she  has  signed 
it  !  It  is  really  ours — our  very  own.  Oh,  you  are  a 
dear  nice  Granny !  Oh,  what  lovely  times  we  will 
have  now !  " 

And  when  Bunny  had  examined  the  document, 
and  had  assured  himself  that  the  signature  was  really 
"  valid " — a  thing  he  was  always  very  particular 
about,  as  Curly  informed  the  company  after  a  whis- 
pered consultation  with  his  brother  over  the  deed 
— both  little  boys  proceeded  to  do  the  honours  of 
their  hut  and  the  paddock  they  had  become  pos- 
sessed of  on  lease,  and  were  eager  to  explain  the 
methods  of  farming  to  be  carried  out  there,  and  how 
they  were  going  to  make  their  fortunes  off  it. 

"  But  how  are  you  going  to  feed  all  your  ani- 
mals?" asked  the  father;  and  Curly  smiled  at  such 
evidence  of  cockney  ignorance. 

"Why,  don't  you  know,  in  the  country  things  are 
always  there,  just  as  you  want  them.  There  is  pig- 
wash in  the  tub  outside  the  back  door,  and  corn  for 
the  chickens  in  the  granary — and  Phyl  has  a  key,  so 
we  can  always  borrow  it  when  we  want — and  hay 


174  A  PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

and  straw  and  everything,  all  quite  handy.  In 
London  there  isn't  anything  like  that,  but  here  it 
all  comes  of  itself.  We've  nothing  to  do  but  to  buy 
the  animals — and  perhaps  Granny  will  give  them  to 
us — and  they  can  keep  themselves,  you  see.  That's 
why  farming  here  will  be  so  profitable.  We  sha'n't 
have  to  buy  anything." 

"  Very  profitable  indeed.  I  should  not  mind 
owning  a  farm  myself  under  such  conditions,"  re- 
turned the  father;  "  but  how  are  the  lessons  to  get 
on  if  you  are  busy  all  day  on  the  land  ?  " 

Bunny  and  Curly  exchanged  doubtful  glances,  and 
then  Granny  spoke. 

"  The  lessons  are  to  be  the  first  object,  and  I 
hope  Mr.  and  Miss  Dalrymple  will  have  good  and 
attentive  pupils.  The  paddock  is  to  be  farmed  in 
play-hours ;  and  if  it  causes  the  little  farmers  to  be 
idle,  the  lease  will  be  revoked — " 

"  By  special  act  of  Parliament,"  added  Tor,  with 
a  stern  look  at  the  children  which  filled  them  with 
awe. 

"  But  so  that  their  crops  and  stock  shall  not  suffer 
when  their  own  time  is  taken  up,  I  will  give  in- 
structions for  all  deficiencies  to  be  supplied  by  the 
labourers  on  my  farm  ;  only  Bunny  and  Curly  must 
undertake  the  management  of  the  crops,  and  do  as 
much  with  their  own  hands  as  time  will  allow.  The 
amount  of  stock  contributed  by  Granny  will  depend 


A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  1 75 

upon  the  good  account  she  receives  from  Mr.  Dal. 
rymple  of  his  little  pupils." 

"  Well,  that  is  a  fine  inducement  to  industry. 
Come,  children,  what  have  you  to  say  to  your  kind 
grandmother  ?  I  know  what  I  should  have  thought 
of  such  an  offer  when  I  was  a  little  boy." 

The  beaming  faces  of  the  children  showed  that 
they  were  quite  sensible  of  the  kindness  of  Granny, 
and  their  thanks  were  eagerly  expressed.  They 
had  a  good  deal  to  ask,  too,  about  their  new  home 
at  Mr.  Dalrymple's,  and  how  often  they  were  to  be 
allowed  to  come  "home,"  as  they  phrased  it,  to  the 
Priory,  and  the  answers  they  got  seemed  very  satis- 
factory. 

"  For  the  present,  till  you  are  used  to  your  new 
surroundings,  you  shall  spend  your  Sundays  here," 
Granny  said,  to  the  great  delight  of  the  little  boys ; 
"and  you  can  play  and  work  as  much  of  your  spare 
time  as  you  will  in  your  paddock  here,  though  I 
think  it  would  be  better  for  you  not  to  be  always  in 
the  gardens  and  shrubberies.  You  will  have  quite 
enough  here  to  take  up  your  time,  and  you  can  go 
out  in  the  donkey-cart  when  you  please,  provided 
you  wash  the  cart  and  rub  over  the  harness  your- 
selves, unless  the  men  offer  to  do  it  for  you.  I 
shall  see  you  at  morning  chapel  every  day — at  least 
I  hope  so — and  we  shall  always  meet  on  Saturday 
•fternoon  when  you  come  to  spend  your  half-holi- 


176  A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

day  and  to  sleep.  But  you  must  not  come  running 
in  and  out  as  if  you  lived  here.  That  I  should  not 
approve  of.  It  would  not  be  good  for  you  or 
pleasant  for  your  tutors.  You  must  remember  that 
you  are  under  discipline  there,  and  try  and  do 
credit  to  your  name  and  training." 

So  Bunny  and  Curly  promised  to  be  very  good, 
and  resolved  that  there  should  be  no  cause  of  com- 
plaint against  them  ;  and  they  were  so  much  excited 
and  so  happy  by  all  that  had  happened  that  they 
were  obliged  to  rush  away  to  one  of  their  loneliest 
haunts  to  talk  it  all  over  together. 


CHAPTER  X 

THE  next  excitement  was  to  go  and  see  the  house 
in  which  Tor  was  to  live  when  he  should  take  upon 
himself  the  post  of  land-agent  to  Granny. 

A  party  was  organised  the  very  next  day  to  drive 
the  two  and  a  half  miles  that  separated  this  farm, 
from  the  Priory,  and  Bunny  and  Curly  started  ahead 
in  their  donkey-cart,  eager  to  be  the  first  in  the 
field. 

"I'm  afraid  poor  Tor  will  be  rather  lonely  out 
here  all  by  himself,"  remarked  Curly,  as  they  drove 
along  the  narrow  lane  which  led  to  the  farm.  "  It 
seems  a  pity  we  could  not  go  and  live  with  him, 
instead  of  at  Mr.  Dalrymple's.  I  suppose  he  got 
used  to  being  a  good  deal  alone  out  in  Australia ; 
but  it  would  have  been  nice  if  we  could  have  lived 
with  him  and  helped  him." 

"  Yes,  but  I  suppose  we  must  get  educated  first. 
Tor  went  to  school  and  all  that  sort  of  thing  before 
he  turned  farmer." 

"  Yes,  I  know ;  but  it  seems  such  a  long  time  to 
have  to  go  on  with  lessons,  when  one  might  be 

177 


178  A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

doing  much  more  sensible  things.  That  nice  old 
farmer  who  came  with  our  donkey,  the  other  day, 
told  us  he  was  no  scholar,  and  had  had  no  schooling 
to  speak  of  all  his  life,  and  he  looked  as  nice  as 
could  be,  and  Granny  said  he  was  the  best  of  her 
tenants  for  good  farming  and  regular  payments. 
So  I  don't  see  what  good  education  does.  Do  you 
think  we  might  ask  Granny  to  let  us  stop  learning, 
and  live  with  Tor,  and  only  do  farming  ?  " 

But  Bunny  shook  his  head  at  that. 

"  No,  I  don't  think  we  ought  to  ask  for  anything 
more  ;  I  think  we  have  got  a  great  deal  as  it  is. 
Think,  Curly :  we  are  going  to  live  in  the  country, 
and  to  spend  our  Sundays  with  Granny  and  Phyl, 
and  have  the  paddock  for  our  own,  and  do  as  we 
like,  and  Granny  will  help  us  with  the  things  we 
want.  I  think  it  would  be  quite  greedy  to  ask  for 
anything  more ;  and  as  they  like  us  to  be  diligent 
and  good  over  our  lessons,  I  think  we  ought  to  try 
with  all  our  might.  And  it's  much  nicer  not  to  be 
ignorant  and  to  have  to  ask  other  people  what 
everything  means.  I  want  to  be  a  learned  man  as 
well  as  a  farmer.  So  I  shall  try  to  like  my  lessons 
better  than  ever." 

"  Well,  if  you  do,  I  suppose  I  must  too,"  an- 
swered Curly,  who  was  not  by  nature  so  studious 
as  his  brother,  nor  fired  with  such  laudable  zeal. 
"  But  I  should  have  thought  you  knew  almost 


A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  179 

enough  as  it  is,  Bunny.  You  know  a  lot  more  than 
I  do." 

"  I'm  afraid  I  can't  consider  my  education  finished 
— as  the  girls  do,"  was  the  sober  answer.  "  I  say, 
Curly,  isn't  it  funny  that  what  we  said  to  Granny 
about  the  girls  and  things  has  made  such  a  lot  of 
fuss?  I'm  afraid  Miss  is  very  cross  with  us;  but  we 
didn't  mean  any  harm,  did  we?" 

Curly  shook  his  head. 

"  No ;  and  Madge  isn't  cross,  nor  Ethel — I  like 
them  better  here  than  I  did  at  home.  I  don't  know 
how  it  is,  but  everybody  seems  to  get  nicer  here 
than  they  were  before.  I  wonder  why  it  is.  I 
wonder  if  we  are  nicer  too." 

That  was  a  question  which  neither  little  brother 
could  answer,  but  Bunny  after  a  thoughtful  silence 
continued  the  subject  in  his  own  fashion. 

"  People  don't  like  to  be  cross  or  snappish  or  silly 
and  flighty  when  Granny  is  there.  She  has  a  way 
of  making  them  seem  small — don't  you  know  what 
I  mean  ?  " 

"  Yes,  like  when  Ethel  was  talking  in  her  silly  gig- 
gling way  about  her  partners  at  the  ball,  and  Miss 
about  her  fine  clothes.  I  didn't  quite  understand 
what  Granny  said,  but  it  made  them  both  get  very 
red,  and  they  didn't  do  it  again." 

"  Phyl  never  goes  on  in  that  silly  way ;  that's 
why  she  didn't  seem  like  a  girl  when  we  came  first." 


i8o  A   PA  IK   OF  ORIGINALS 

"  Phyl  says  she  hasn't  time  to  think  such  a  lot 
about  her  fine  frocks  and  hats  and  all  that  sort  of 
thing,"  remarked  Curly.  "  I  asked  her  about  it  one 
day,  and  why  she  didn't  have  a  lot  of  fellows  fool- 
ing round  after  her  like  the  girls,  and  she  laughed  a 
good  deal  and  said  she  had  not  time  for  that  kind 
of  thing.  You  know  she  and  Granny  are  always 
busy.  Perhaps  it's  that  that  makes  them  nice. 
Our  girls  never  have  anything  to  do.  Bunny,  I 
think  we'd  better  always  have  plenty  to  do  our- 
selves. I'm  sure  it  helps  people  to  be  nice  and 
sensible." 

"  Why,  so  it  does,  Curly,  I  do  believe ;  but  I  think 
it's  something  else  besides  being  busy." 

"  Yes,  Bunny — what  ?  " 

"  Well,  you  see  Granny  is  very  kind,  as  well  as 
very  busy.  She  says  sharp  things,  I  know,  and 
makes  some  people  rather  afraid  of  her;  but  I 
don't  think  nice  people  are  afraid — Phyl  isn't,  nor 
Tor,  and  she  has  always  been  nice  and  kind  to  us, 
and  she  does  such  a  lot  of  good  too,  you  know." 

"  Does  she  ?     How  do  you  know  ?  " 

"  Oh,  I  can  see.  Don't  you  know  how  she  works 
in  the  evenings  for  different  things,  and  how  the 
maids  are  always  sewing  and  making  clothes  to  give 
away?  Granny  buys  the  stuff,  and  gives  them  to 
poor  people  when  they  are  done,  and  people  come 
to  her  for  help  for  such  a  lot  of  things ;  and  she  is  so 


A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  1 81 

kind  to  her  tenants  too,  and  has  clubs  for  them  to 
help  them,  and  she  and  Phyl  between  them  do  all 
the  work,  and  keep  the  books — and  it  is  a  lot  of 
trouble,  for  Phyl  said  so ;  but  they  don't  mind  it  a 
bit.  I  don't  think  Granny  ever  does  mind  trouble 
if  it  is  doing  good  to  other  people." 

Curly  was  silent  for  a  while,  turning  this  new  idea 
over  in  his  small  brain. 

"  Bunny,"  he  said  at  length,  "  I  think  Granny 
must  be  very  good." 

"  So  do  I,  Curly." 

"Do  you  think  it's  being  good  makes  her 
nice  ?  " 

"  I  think  it  must  have  something  to  do  with  it. 
You  know  there  is  something  about  her  house  there 
never  was  at  home.  I  believe  it  is  a  good  deal  be- 
cause she  is  good,  and  tries  to  make  other  people 
good  too,  that  everything  seems  so  nice." 

"  I  shouldn't  wonder  if  it  was,"  answered  Curly 
with  an  air  of  profound  wisdom  and  conviction  ; 
"  I've  sometimes  thought  it  myself,  since  Phyl  talked 
to  me  that  day  about  morning  chapel,  and  making 
it  a  help.  I  think'  it  was  the  chapel  that  helped  me 
to  tell  the  truth  when  I  thought  I  should  be  put  in 
prison.  I've  liked  it  ever  since,  and  I  don't  often 
feel  tired  of  it.  I'm  glad  we  can  keep  on  going.  If 
we  mean  to  be  good  like  Granny,  I  think  we  shall 
have  to  say  a  lot  of  prayers — and  chapel  is  a  nice 


1 82  A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

place  to  say  them  in  ;  it  seems  somehow  as  if  one 
was -nearer  when  one  was  there." 

Curly  did  not  say  nearer  to  what,  but  Bunny  un- 
derstood him  quite  well  without. 

"  Yes,  I  feel  so  ;  and,  Curly,  Tor  comes  now  every 
day,  though  we  thought  he  wouldn't.  I  believe  he 
likes  it  too,  though  he  never  says  anything.  I'm 
quite  sure  there  is  something  about  Granny  that 
helps  people  to  be  better  who  come  near  her, 
whether  they  think  about  it  or  not." 

However,  there  was  no  time  to  pursue  the  subject 
farther,  had  the  little  brothers  wished  to  do  so,  as 
they  had  now  reached  their  destination  ;  and  tying 
the  donkey  up  to  the  gate,  they  made  their  way  to 
the  farm-house,  which  was  being  cleaned  down  by  a 
woman  who  had  been  led  to  expect  the  incursion  of 
guests  that  afternoon. 

It  was  a  queer  but  decidedly  attractive  old  place, 
having  in  former  years  been  one  of  the  manor- 
houses  of  the  county;  though  much  of  the  original 
building  had  fallen  into  decay,  and  the  more  modern 
additions  were  on  a  humbler  scale.  Still  most  of 
the  living-rooms  were  roomy,  though  low,  and  there 
was  some  ancient  carving  and  panelling  which  ex- 
cited the  admiration  and  delight  of  the  little  boys. 

As  the  previous  tenants  had  been  people  in  com- 
fortable circumstances,  until  sudden  losses  had  de- 
cided them  to  emigrate  and  join  a  relative  in  Can- 


A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  183 

ada,  their  furniture  was  unusually  good  of  its  kind, 
and  Lady  Chesterton  had  bought  it  of  them,  and 
there  it  still  stood,  giving  a  comfortable  look  of 
habitation  to  the  rooms,  which  only  wanted  a  few 
signs  of  occupation  to  look  quite  snug  and  cosey. 

The  party  who  came  to  look  over  Tor's  future 
home  agreed  that  he  was  a  very  lucky  fellow,  and 
he  seemed  to  agree  in  the  verdict,  for  his  face  was 
brighter  than  it  had  been  for  many  long  months, 
with  the  brightness  of  a  man  who  sees  his  life's 
work  before  him,  and  that  work  which  he  can  do, 
and  do  well  and  successfully. 

"  Of  course  you  shall  come  and  see  me,"  he  said 
to  Curly,  who  had  suggested  the  idea  somewhat 
modestly.  "  You  and  Bunny  shall  spend  a  Sunday 
with  me  here  sometimes,  if  Granny  can  spare  you 
from  the  Priory.  Did  you  think  I  should  be  un- 
grateful enough  to  forget  you,  when  you  have  had 
such  a  large  share  in  promoting  my  good  luck  ?  " 

"We?"  echoed  Curly  in  astonishment.  "Why, 
what  did  we  do?" 

"  Why,  set  the  ball  rolling,  to  be  sure,"  answered 
Tor,  laughing.  "  If  you  do  not  call  that  anything, 
other  people  do.  You  will  never  be  de  trop  in  my 
house,  you  will  see." 

Which  was  altogether  such  a  perplexing  answer 
that  the  children  did  not  know  what  to  make  of  it. 

However,  it  was  very  interesting   to  go  all  over 


1 84  A   PAIR  OF  ORIGINALS 

the  house,  listen  to  the  suggestions  the  different  per- 
sons made,  and  the  arrangements  for  the  comfort 
of  their  big  brother  in  his  bachelor  establishment. 
Their  father  promised  a  Turkey  carpet  and  an  easy 
chair  for  one  of  the  living-rooms,  which  Tor  decided 
to  take  into  use  as  his  "  den,"  as  he  called  it,  and 
Granny  said  she  should  supply  the  deficiencies  in 
the  kitchen  premises,  and  find  him  a  respectable 
woman  to  be  his  housekeeper.  There  was  very 
little  wanting  to  make  the  house  very  comfortable 
for  a  young  man's  use,  though  had  a  lady  been  com- 
ing to  live  there  a  good  many  additions  might  have 
been  needed.  There  were  bedrooms  sufficiently  fur- 
nished both  for  himself  and  for  any  guests  he  might 
from  time  to  time  like  to  ask,  and  Madge  was  almost 
inclined  to  regret  that  she  had  never  made  herself  of 
sufficient  importance  to  her  brother  to  make  him 
desire  her  presence  as  his  housekeeper.  For  she 
too  had  been  somewhat  fascinated  by  the  view  of 
country  life  she  had  seen  during  this  brief  visit 
to  the  Priory,  and  she  would  have  enjoyed — at  least 
for  the  first  bright  summer  months — the  importance 
and  independence  of  being  Tor's  housekeeper  and 
companion. 

But  it  was  very  plain  that  such  an  idea  had  never 
entered  into  the  head  of  the  brother,  who  had  been 
treated  with  scant  kindness  by  his  sisters  when  he 
really  needed  their  good  offices,  and  the  little  kind- 


A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  185 

nesses  which  would  have  done  so  much  for  him 
when  he  first  came  amongst  them  ;  and  Miss  Madge 
learnt  a  salutary  lesson  from  this,  that  fair-weathei 
friends  are  not  those  who  really  win  true  affection  ; 
and  she  knew  that  sharp-spoken  Granny,  the  little 
half-brothers,  who  had  never  been  of  much  account 
in  their  eyes,  and  even  pretty  Phyllis  Musgrave,  who 
was  no  relation  at  all,  were  much  more  now  to  Tor 
than  his  own  sisters,  who  might  so  well  have  held 
the  first  place  in  his  naturally  warm  heart,  had  they 
not  shown  such  flighty  and  unfeeling  indifference 
towards  him  when  he  had  come  amongst  them  ill 
and  suffering. 

"  I  suppose  it  was  rather  horrid  of  us,"  she  said  to 
herself,  "  but  we  all  of  us  always  did  hate  bothering 
after  people  when  they  were  ill.  Well,  at  any  rate  he 
can  serve  us  out  now,  for  he'll  never  care  to  ask  us 
down  to  see  him,  or  think  we  should  care  to  come ; 
but  I  do  think  it  would  be  great  fun,  especially 
if  things  get  too  cut-and-dried  at  home  with  this  old 
she-dragon  who  is  coming.  But  when  one  won't 
be  kind  for  kindness'  sake  when  one  has  the  chance, 
it's  a  mean  kind  of  thing  to  go  sneaking  up  when 
there's  something  to  be  got  by  it,  so  I  sha'n't  tell 
Tor  how  I  should  like  to  see  him  when  he  has  got 
settled  in  his  own  house." 

Which  view  of  the  case  showed  that  Miss  Madge 
was  at  least  sincere  and  no  humbug,  and  also  that 


1 86  A    PA  IK   OF  ORIGINALS 

she  had  learnt  a  lesson  which  we  will  hope  she  did 
not  forget  again  in  the  busy  round  of  pleasure  and 
gaiety,  which,  in  spite  of  all  gloomy  prognostica- 
tions, still  continued  to  make  up  the  main  business 
of  the  lives  of  herself  and  her  sisters  in  their  father's 
house. 

The  inspection  of  Tor's  new  home  was  followed 
next  day  by  a  visit  from  father  and  sister  to  Mr. 
Dalrymple  and  his  sister,  which  ended  in  the  satis- 
factory decision  that  the  two  little  boys  were  to  be 
sent  there  as  boarders,  to  be  educated  by  the  young 
clergyman  and  his  bright  and  merry  sister ;  and 
though  the  little  boys  felt  that  they,  if  they  had 
been  consulted  in  the  matter,  should  have  preferred 
to  be  independent  squatters  in  their  own  hut,  or 
even  to  live  with  Tor  in  his  big  and  almost  empty 
house,  still  they  were  so  pleased  at  being  allowed  to 
remain  in  the  neighbourhood,  instead  of  being  taken 
back  to  London,  that  they  entered  with  zest  into 
the  plans  made  for  them,  resolved  to  be  very  good 
and  diligent,  and  were  not  the  least  bit  fretful  or 
repining,  even  when  the  time  came  for  leaving  their 
snug  nurseries  and  good  Hannah's  fostering  care. 

"  For,  you  see,  we  shall  be  quite  near  neighbours 
all  the  time,"  explained  Curly  to  their  kind  nurse, 
"  and  we  shall  often  be  in  our  paddock  ;  and  if  you'll 
come  out  and  see  us  there  sometimes,  we'll  give  you 
some  damper  or  dried  buffalo's  flesh,  or  something 


A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  187 

of  that  sort.  Squatters  have  to  eat  all  sorts  of 
queer  things,  you  know — Tor  had  to  once  when  he 
was  in  the  bush,  and  so  do  men  in  the  books  we 
read.  I  expect  when  we  begin  to  squat  we  shall 
find  a  buffalo  hanging  round  somewhere,  and  then 
we  shall  shoot  it  and  dry  its  flesh  in  the  sun,  and 
have  it  hanging  up  in  our  hut  against  we  want  it  to 
cook.  So  if  ever  cook  wants  a  fresh  dish  at  com- 
pany time,  she  can  just  come  and  ask  us,  and  we'll 
give  her  some.  Tor  says  kangaroo  makes  a  very 
nice  meal  when"  it's  well  cooked,  and  we  might  shoot 
a  kangaroo  some  day — Tor  did  when  he  was  living 
like  we  mean  to  in  our  play-time." 

So  old  Hannah  faithfully  promised  to  come  often 
and  inspect  their  larder,  and  indeed  she  was  as  good 
as  her  word,  and  they  saw  her  almost  every  day, 
and  she  seldom  came  empty-handed  ;  for  she  would 
bring  with  her  a  pitcher  of  fresh  milk  and  some 
cakes  or  fruit,  or  perhaps  a  nice  pasty,  or  a  meat- 
pie  from  the  kitchen ;  and  then  they  would  sit 
down  in  the  shade  and  enjoy  it  together,  and  the 
little  boys  would  show  Hannah  all  that  they  had 
done,  and  ask  her  advice  for  the  next  day's  work. 
Hannah,  they  soon  found  out,  was  a  farmer's 
daughter,  and  had  lived  at  home  and  helped  on  the 
farm  till  she  had  entered  Lady  Chesterton's  service, 
many  long  years  ago  now  ;  but  she  had  not  for- 
gotten her  old  calling,  and  was  able  to  tell  the  little 


1 88  A   FAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

boys  all  that  they  wanted  for  the  management  of 
their  little  estate.  Under  her  direction  they  railed 
off  from  the  grass-land  the  piece  they  intended  to 
cultivate,  dug  and  dressed  certain  neat  little  squares 
for  their  intended  crops,  divided  one  plot  from 
another  by  little  ditches,  and  made  a  little  flower- 
garden  immediately  in  front  of  their  hut,  in  which 
they  planted  such  flowers  as  the  gardener  could 
spare  from  the  'planting  out  of  his  own  summer- 
garden,  which  had  been  completed  during  the  last 
fortnight,  whilst  they  took  great  pains  over  the 
border,  which  was  made  of  flint  stones  and 
clinkers,  carefully  collected  from  the  rubbish- 
heaps  and  waste  pieces  round  the  garden,  where 
many  treasures  were  unearthed :  and  they  even 
came  upon  a  find  of  gravel  lying  in  one  of  the  outer 
yards  which  they  were  told  they  might  take  away 
if  they  liked,  so  they  borrowed  a  wheelbarrow,  and, 
with  great  toil  but  an  equal  amount  of  pleasure, 
carried  it  away  to  their  own  domain,  and  made  a 
neat  little  gravel  walk  right  up  to  their  front  door 
between  the  brilliant  flower-beds. 

Great  was  their  pride  and  delight  in  their  own 
handiwork,  and  great  the  pleasure,  each  Saturday 
as  it  came  round,  of  bringing  Granny  to  see  what 
they  had  accomplished  in  the  week.  And  because 
diligence  even  in  play  promotes  diligence  in  work- 
hours,  the  little  boys  gave  great  satisfaction,  for  the 


A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  189 

most  part,  to  their  instructors,  being  seldom  idle  or 
wilfully  inattentive,  though  Curly's  mind  was  apt  to 
wander  sometimes  from  his  books  to  the  charming 
hut  which  was  a  sort  of  centre  to  their  lives.  Their 
summer  lessons  were,  however,  short  and  easy,  as 
it  was  thought  well  to  let  them  be  much  out 
of  doors,  and  Edith  Dalrymple,  who  took  most 
of  Curly's  instruction  upon  herself,  was  so  bright 
and  interesting  in  her  method  of  giving  lessons 
that  the  little  boys  really  enjoyed  their  studies, 
and  made  as  much  progress  as  could  reasonably 
be  expected  of  them. 

And  in  that  house,  as  in  their  grandmother's, 
they  learnt  a  great  many  lessons  without  knowing 
that  they  were  lessons  at  all.  There  was  the  same 
reverence  for  holy  things,  the  same  kindliness  and 
care  for  others,  the  same  busy  usefulness  that  was 
like  a  pervading  atmosphere  at  the  Priory,  and  the 
children  gradually  imbibed  the  same  spirit,  without 
any  teaching — or  very  little — in  actual  words;  and 
they  became  anxious  for  some  little  labour  of  love, 
would  gather  their  finest  flowers  to  take  to  some 
sick  person  in  the  village,  or  save  for  a  like  pur- 
pose the  finest  of  the  fruit  Hannah  or  Granny  gave 
them,  and  began  to  take  a  friendly  interest  in  all 
the  humble  labourers  who  worked  upon  the  place, 
learnt  their  names  and  the  names  of  their  chil- 
dren, and  gave  away  to  the  latter  several  of  their 


190  A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

own  books  and  toys,  because,  when  they  visited 
them  in  their  homes,  they  found  that  they  had 
nothing  of  the  kind  to  amuse  them  on  wet  days. 

And  if  they  gave  pleasure  in  their  simple  fashion, 
they  certainly  received  many  wonderful  surprises 
themselves.  One  day  it  would  be  a  new  chicken 
in  their  little  poultry-yard,  which,  in  imitation  of 
Phyl's,  they  kept  wired  in,  letting  the  chickens 
run  out  into  the  paddock  for  a  good  many  hours 
each  day  ;  and  once,  to  their  immense  pride  and 
delight,  it  was  a  little  black  pig,  which  appeared, 
together  with  a  little  stye  of  its  own,  in  the  corner 
of  the  paddock,  just  as  if  the  fairies  had  brought  it 
there.  And  it  was  such  a  dear  little  pig,  too — not 
a  bit  like  the  coarse,  ugly  creatures  the  children 
saw  in  some  yards ;  and  they  grew  so  fond  of  it, 
and  took  such  pains  with  it,  cleaning  out  its  stye 
every  day,  and  gathering  fresh  fern  and  nice  straw 
for  its  bed,  that  it  kept  as  sleek  and  clean  as  a 
dog,  and  if  let  out  of  its  stye  would  follow  the 
children  about  in  the  most  ridiculous  way,  grunt- 
ing at  their  heels,  and  getting  fed  on  all  sorts  of 
dainties  such  as  few  pigs  live  to  enjoy. 

Of  course  Granny  was  the  kind  fairy  who  had 
given  them  this  new  pet,  and  very  warmly  did 
the  little  brothers  thank  her  when  they  saw  her 
next.  She  was  very  much  pleased,  as  time  went  on, 
at  the  care  the  small  farmers  took  of  their  animals 


A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  191 

and  she  told  them  she  would  buy  their  chickens 
of  them  when  they  got  old  enough  for  the  market, 
and  their  pig  too,  and  that  with  the  proceeds  they 
could  buy  seeds  or  another  pig  or  whatever  they 
liked,  and  improve  their  property  in  a  good  many 
ways.  Luckily  for  their  own  peace  of  mind,  the 
children  did  not  realise  what  selling  their  favourites 
actually  meant ;  and  as  they  knew  all  farmers  sent 
their  beasts  to  market  in  the  end,  the  idea  of  doing 
the  same  gave  them  a  sense  of  pleasurable  import- 
ance. Curly  looked  rather  blank  at  the  idea  of  ever 
parting  with  their  pig,  but  Bunny  explained  that 
it  must  be  done  when  he  got  big,  and  that  they 
would  have  another  little  one  instead,  who  would  be 
just  as  nice.  Curly,  not  wishing  to  appear  childish, 
gave  his  consent  to  the  plan,  the  more  so  as  the  day 
of  parting  was  still  far  off. 

And  so  this  happy  and  eventful  summer  slipped 
quickly  away.  Tor,  in  his  own  home  not  very  far 
away,  was  making  himself  very  useful  to  Granny; 
and  when  in  the  winter  she  was  laid  up  with 
an  attack  of  rheumatism,  and  could  not  get  out  of 
doors  for  six  weeks,  she  was  glad  indeed  that  she 
had  such  a  capable  land-agent  at  hand.  Tor  almost 
lived  at  the  Priory  during  those  days,  and  the  little 
brothers,  to  their  great  contentment,  spent  the 
Christmas  holidays  there,  instead  of  going  home, 
as  Granny  wanted  them  about  the  house  to  enliven 


192  A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

her  convalescence.  Tor  of  course  spent  the  festive 
season  at  the  Priory ;  and  as  Granny  was  able  to 
leave  her  room  by  that  time,  though  not  the  house, 
there  was  fine  fun  over  the  many  gifts  and  cards, 
and  the  romps  and  frolics  that  were  got  up  for 
the  benefit  of  the  little  ones.  It  really  seemed  as 
if  Granny  enjoyed  a  frolic  as  much  as  any  of  them, 
and,  as  Curly  remarked  reflectively  at  the  close  of 
the  evening,  it  was  really  quite  funny,  for  Granny 
seemed  younger  than  any  of  "  the  girls,"  although 
she  was  grandmother  of  them  all ;  for  none  of  them 
but  Madge  ever  cared  to  romp  at  Christmas,  and 
she  soon  got  tired  ;  but  Granny  seemed  as  if  she 
never  were  tired,  and  could  go  on  as  long  as  they 
themselves  could. 

And  Granny  laughed,  and  Phyl  said  something 
they  did  not  understand  about  age  not  going  with 
years  but  with  the  heart,  and  some  people  never 
growing  old.  And  then  she  went  and  kissed  the 
old  lady,  and  the  children  followed  her  example, 
and  so  did  Tor,  even  ;  and  she  held  Phyl's  hand, 
and  his  too,  and  looked  in  both  their  faces,  and 
said  something  about  not  leaving  the  "  old  woman 
alone  in  her  old  age,"  which  made  them. both  say 
"  No,  no,"  very  quickly,  whilst  Phyl's  face  glowed 
a  bright  red,  and  Tor  looked  so  proud  and  happy 
that  the  children  wondered  what  it  could  all  be 
about. 


A  PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  193 

"  But  of  course  they're  happy  because  they  make 
other  people  happy,"  said  Bunny,  as  the  little  bro- 
thers went  off  to  bed  hand  in  hand.  "  It  has  been 
a  nice  jolly  Christmas  this  year,  and  all  the  jollier 
because  we  know  that  all  the  poor  people  have 
had  a  nice  time  too.  When  we're  men,  Curly, 
we'll  never  forget  the  poor  at  Christmas-time. 
We'll  try  to  be  kind  and  good,  like  Granny." 


CHAPTER  XI 

"  CURLY,  Curly!  I've  found  it  all  out  now — and  I 
think  it's  so  nice,  and  really  quite  romantic." 

Curly  was  cleaning  out  the  pigstye  in  readiness 
for  the  little  new  pig,  who  was  coming  in  place  of 
the  old  favourite,  who  had  at  last  been  taken  to 
market,  and  his  occupation  certainly  did  not  savour 
of  romance ;  but  he  looked  up  eagerly  and  asked 
what  Bunny  meant,  and  if  things  could  be  romantic 
now  that  the  days  of  chivalry  were  past. 

"  Well,  I  don't  quite  know  about  that,  but  I 
think  it's  romantic.  Do  you  know  that  Tor  and 
Phyl  are  going  to  get  married,  and  are  going  to  live 
with  Granny  at  the  Priory  always,  to  take  care  of 
her,  because  she's  getting  old?  That's  why  they 
have  both  looked  so  happy,  and  why  Granny  says 
funny  things  sometimes,  and  why  Phyl  is  often  so 
busy  and  has  such  a  lot  of  new  clothes.  I  don't 
know  why  girls  always  want  such  a  heap  of  new 
clothes  when  they're  married,  but  they  always  do. 
It's  what  they  call  a  '  too-so,'  or  something  like  that. 

I've  heard  the  girls  talk  about  it." 

194 


A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  195 

"Oh  yes,  I  know — I  suppose  it's  called  that  be- 
cause at  Madame  Too-So's  they're  always  dressed 
up  so  fine.  Well,  if  Tor  and  Phyl  don't  go  and 
live  somewhere  else,  I  don't  mind  if  they  do  get 
married,  though  I  don't  see  what  difference  it  will 
make.  They  can  see  each  other  as  often  as  they 
like  now." 

"  Well,  you  see  Tor  will  live  partly  at  the  Priory, 
partly  at  his  own  house,  when  they  are  married, 
instead  of  only  staying  there  as  a  sort  of  visitor,  as 
he  does  now.  Granny  couldn't  spare  Phyl  to  l?e 
always  away,  you  see  ;  and  she  likes  Tor  very  much 
too.  I  think  she'd  like  to  have  them  living  always 
with  her,  but  Hannah  says  gentlemen  like  to  have 
an  independent  home  of  their  own.  If  Tor  did 
ever  live  at  the  Priory  always,  I  suppose  he'd  let 
his  own  farm.  I  wonder  if  we  could  take  it  ;  or 
perhaps  he'd  let  me  draw  up  the  lease.  I'd  only 
charge  him  for  the  sealing-wax." 

"  I  should  think  he'd  like  it  very  much — and, 
Bunny,  couldn't  you  do  Phyl's  marriage-settlements 
too  ?  You  know  girls  always  have  to  have  those 
when  they're  married — I  think  it's  part  of  the  too- 
so." 

Bunny  wasn't  quite  sure  if  his  legal  knowledge 
went  far  enough  for  that,  but  he  suggested  the  idea 
to  Phyl,  who  thanked  him  very  much  for  his  kind 
intentions,  but  said  she  did  not  want  any  settle- 


196  A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

ments,  as  that  had  been  provided  for  under  her 
father's  will.  This  sounded  so  very  grand  that 
Bunny  treasured  it  up  for  a  future  occasion,  and 
he  impressed  Curly  very  much  by  the  way  he 
discoursed  with  old  Hannah  on  the  subject,  and 
wondered  if  her  father's  will  could  be  a  kind  of 
tree,  and  if  she  would  be  married  under  it,  as  she 
had  been  made  an  heiress  in  her  own  right  under  it. 

It  was  in  March  that  the  little  brothers  learned 
this  wonderful  secret,  and  the  wedding  was  to  be 
immediately  after  Easter ;  so  that  there  was  plenty 
to  do  in  the  short  time  that  elapsed,  and  plenty  to 
think  about  too.  For  although  in  one  way  it  was 
not  going  to  be  a  very  grand  wedding,  as  Phyl  had 
no  relations  to  come,  and  Granny  was  not  strong 
enough  for  a  great  deal  of  company  and  excitement, 
yet  the  whole  village  and  neighbourhood  would  be 
en  fete  for  such  an  event  as  a  wedding  from  the 
Priory,  and  the  poor  people  were  to  have  a  holiday 
and  enjoy  a  great  feast. 

For,  besides  the  wedding  itself,  Granny  was  going 
to  introduce  Tor  to  her  tenants  as  their  future  land- 
lord and  master,  when  she  should  be  gone  from 
amongst  them.  It  was  a  natural  choice  to  make,  as 
he  was  the  second  son  of  her  only  son,  the  eldest 
of  whom  would  inherit  the  family  estates  and  his 
father's  title  ;  but  Tor  had  never  expected  anything 
from  his  grandmother  and  godmother,  as  he  had 


A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  •   197 

been  led  to  think  of  her  as  a  hard  woman,  more  or 
less  alienated  from  her  kindred,  and  it  was  only 
since  he  had  come  to  know  her  intimately  during 
the  past  year  that  he  had  arrived  at  a  juster  esti- 
mate of  her  character  and  the  circumstances  that 
had  caused  the  cessation  of  intercourse  between  her 
household  and  that  of  her  son. 

So  what  was  a  surprise  to  the  little  brothers  was 
a  greater  surprise  to  him,  and  he  felt  that  he  had 
indeed  great  cause  for  gratitude  and  happiness. 

As  for  Bunny  and  Curly,  there  was  an  even 
greater  surprise  and  pleasure  awaiting  them,  for  on 
their  asking  Phyl  one  day  how  many  bridesmaids 
she  was  going  to  have,  she  answered,  none  ;  and 
on  their  exclaiming  at  that  in  great  surprise — for 
Bunny  doubted  if  the  marriage  would  be  valid 
without — she  said  she  was  going  to  strike  out  a  new 
line  for  herself,  and  have  for  her  attendants  two 
little  foot-pages  in  white-velvet  suits  slashed  with 
crimson  silk;  and  when  the  little  boys  exchanged 
wondering  and  inquiring  glances,  she  further  ex- 
plained that  they  were  to  be  the  two  pages,  and 
promptly  carried  them  off  in  her  pretty  carriage  to 
be  measured  for  their  finery. 

And  when  the  bright  morning  of  April  came, 
and  Phyllis  Musgrave  stood  in  all  her  white-robed 
beauty  before  the  altar,  which  she  would  leave  as 
Phyllis  Chesterton,  who  so  proud  of  her  fairness,  her 


198  A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

grace  and  sweetness,  and  of  the  stately,  handsome 
presence  of  the  bridegroom,  as  the  two  small  pages, 
in  their  old-fashioned  bravery,  as  they  stood  behind 
their  future  sister,  one  holding  her  flowers,  the  other 
her  glove  ? 

And  in  the  festival  which  followed,  the  same 
two  little  pages  in  their  conspicuous  dresses  were 
amongst  the  most  prominent  objects  of  interest. 
People  seemed  to  think — as  Curly  remarked — that 
they  had  had  something  to  do  with  the  making 
of  the  match,  and  they  received  so  many  compli- 
ments and  so  much  notice  that  if  they  had  been 
prone  to  self-consciousness  they  might  have  had 
their  heads  fairly  turned. 

As  it  was,  however,  they  were  much  too  busy 
looking  after  the  guests  and  running  messages  for 
one  and  another  to  have  much  time  to  think  of 
themselves,  and  they  were  as  busy  and  happy  as 
possible,  feeling  quite  like  hosts  themselves ;  for 
Tor  and  Phyl  had  other  things  to  think  of,  and  were 
just  going  away  for  a  fortnight  besides,  whilst  the 
little  brothers  were  to  stay  with  Granny  in  their 
absence,  and  help  her  to  manage  the  farms  till  Tor 
could  come  back. 

They  got  the  last  kisses  from  bride  and  bride- 
groom as  they  handed  Phyllis  into  the  carriage  at 
the  last,  and  stood  on  the  terrace  to  watch  it  out  of 
sight. 


PHYLLIS  AND  HER  PAGES. 


Page  198 


A  PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  199 

"It's  been  a  very  nice  wedding,  I  think,"  re- 
marked Curly,  straying  off  with  Bunny  into  the 
garden  now  that  the  event  of  the  day  was  over. 
"  Didn't  Phyl  look  pretty  !  And  didn't  Tor  seem 
proud  and  happy  !  I  think  people  feel  very  grand 
when  they  get  married.  Bunny,  do  you  think  we 
shall  ever  get  married,  you  and  I  ?" 

"  I  don't  much  think  so — you  see  we  don't  care 
for  girls.  It  I  married,  I  should  like  a  nice  sensible 
woman  like  Hannah,  who  understands  about  things. 
But  she  says  she's  too  old  for  me — I  spoke  to  her 
the  other  day — and  she  laughed  too.  But  I  don't 
see  anything  to  laugh  at.  Old  women  are  much 
nicer  than  girls.  Just  look  at  Granny,  now." 

"  We  can't  marry  Granny,  you  know,"  said  Curly, 
reflectively  ;  "  it's  written  up  in  the  church  porch 
that  we  mayn't.  Do  you  think  Granny  had  it  put 
up  in  case  we  should  want  to  ?  " 

Bunny  would  not  commit  himself  to  an  opinion 
on  such  a  point,  and  Curly  continued  his  train  of 
thought. 

"  Phyl  was  nice,  though  she  was  a  girl,  and  there 
might  be  another  one  like  her.  Bunny,  if  we  found 
a  girl  as  nice  as  Phyl,  do  you  think  we  could  both 
marry  her  ?  " 

"  No,  Curly ;  for  if  two  men  marry  one  woman, 
that's  bigamy,  and  people  go  to  prison  for  that." 

"  Dear  me,  what  tiresome  laws  people  do  make! 


200  A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

For  I'm  sure  we  don't  want  more  than  one  wife 
between  us.  Well,  Bunny,  perhaps  we'll  do  without 
one  at  all.  There  isn't  much  room  in  our  hut  as  it 
is,  and  a  girl  would  be  rather  in  the  way." 

"  Yes,  I  think  she  would.  But,  Curly,  I  think  we 
ought  to  go  back  now.  The  people  will  be  wanting 
their  carriages,  and  Granny  may  want  us  to  be 
there." 

So  they  went  back  to  the  house,  and  found  the 
party  considerably  diminished ;  but  there  were  some 
laughing  voices  still  in  the  dining-room,  and  they 
heard  somebody  propose  the  health  of  the  Pair  of 
Originals,  which  seemed  received  with  acclamation. 

"  I  wonder  who  they  are,"  remarked  Curly  rather 
contemptuously.  "  Now  let's  go  and  find  Granny." 


CHAPTER  XII 

"  HANNAH — " 

"  Yes,  dearie." 

"  Hannah,  what  are  those  things  that  people  get 
when  they  have  a  lot  of  other  things  too  ?  " 

This  lucid  question  was  put  by  Curly,  who  was 
seated  upon  the  comfortable,  battered  old  nursery 
sofa  at  the  Priory,  gravely  nursing  one  knee,  and 
watching  Hannah's  clever  fingers  as  they  stitched  at 
a  rent  he  had  recently  made  in  his  jacket. 

The  good  old  woman  raised  her  eyes  in  a  puzzled 
fashion,  just  settling  her  horn-rimmed  spectacles 
more  firmly  on  her  nose. 

"  What,  honey  ?     I  don't  quite  understand." 

It  was  no  new  thing  for  Hannah  not  to  under- 
stand the  questions  propounded  by  her  youthful 
charges,  and  Curly  was  quite  prepared  for  this  reply. 

"  It's  something  people  always  get — "  he  began 
slowly  and  deliberately,  when  a  sudden  bright 
thought  struck  Hannah,  and  she  suggested, 

"  Maybe   it's   the   measles   you    are  thinking   of, 


202  A  PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

honey.  Most  folks  get  them  at  some  time  or 
another  in  their  lives." 

"  It  can't  be  measles,"  answered  Curly  very 
decidedly,  "because  Granny's  got  them  now;  she's 
got  a  great  many  of  them — I  heard  her  say  so  to 
Phyl.  Granny  hasn't  got  the  measles  now,  has  she, 
Hannah  dear?" 

"  Nay,  nay ;  her  ladyship  is  wonderful  well  con- 
sidering her  years.  She  hasn't  got  naught  amiss 
with  her." 

"  But  she's  got  these  things  that  I  want  to  know 
what  they  are,"  said  Curly  with  his  usually  involved 
language.  "  I  want  you  to  tell  me  about  them, 
Hannah.  They  begin  with  an  S — at  least  I'm 
almost  sure  they  do — and  they're  something  like  the 
name  of  the  old  gentleman  with  the  white  mous- 
tache who  dined  with  Granny  the  night  before  last." 

"General  Ponsonby,  dearie?" 

"  Yes,  I  think  that  was  it.  Well,  when  Granny 
was  talking  about  these  things,  she  made  me  think 
about  him — so  I  think  the  name  was  something  like 
it — only  it  began  with  an  S." 

Hannah  felt  that  the  question  was  growing  too 
deep  for  her;  she  shook  her  head  and  said  she 
couldn't  think.  But  Curly  was  a  determined  little 
mortal,  and  would  not  let  her  rest. 

"But  you  must  think,  Hannah,  because  I  want  to 
know,  and  Granny  says  if  you  want  to  know  a  thing 


A  PAIR  OF  ORIGINALS  203 

the  best  thing  is  to  find  it  out  for  yourself.  Now 
I'll  just  tell  you  what  it  was  she  said  to  Phyl,  and 
then  perhaps  you'll  be  able  to  guess.  Phyl  had 
brought  the  baby  to  see  Granny,  and  Granny  had  it 
on  her  knee,  and  Phyl  was  looking  very  happy,  and 
Granny  said  what  a  companion  it  would  be  to  her 
when  it  got  big,  and  Phyl  said,  '  Oh  yes,  indeed ;  but 
that  having  a  little  boy  to  train  up  was  a  great — 
something — ' " 

"  Responsibility  ?  "  suggested  Hannah,  and  then 
Curly's  face  beamed  all  over. 

"  That  was  it,"  he  cried  triumphantly.  "  I  thought 
we'd  find  it  out  if  we  had  a  good  long  talk  together. 
"Yes,  a  great  'sponsibility ;  and  Granny  said  of 
course  it  was — that  was  always  the  way  of  the 
world  :  the  more  things  we  had  that  were  nice  the 
more  'sponsibilities  we  had  too.  She  said  she  had  a 
great  many  big  ones  herself,  and  Phyl  said  of  course 
she  had,  and  Granny  said  people  got  more  and  more 
as  they  grew  older,  and  Phyl  said  yes,  she'd  felt  that 
herself.  Now  I  want  to  know  what  'sponsibilities 
are.  Is  it  anything  like  the  measles,  Hannah  ?  " 

"  Well,  no,  dearie,  not  very  much  like  that," 
answered  the  old  woman,  smiling  over  her  needle  ; 
"but  I  think  you're  over-young  just  to  understand 
what  they  are." 

Curly  drew  his  small  figure  up  with  an  air  of 
offence. 


204  A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

"  I'm  not  a  bit  too  little  to  understand,"  he 
answered  ;  "  I  understand  a  great  many  things.  I'm 
getting  quite  grown  up  ;  we've  got  a  farm  of  our 
own,  and  I've  managed  all  of  it  since  Bunny's  been 
ill.  I  expect  if  everybody  gets  'sponsibilities  I'll 
soon  have  some  my  own  self,  and  I  should  like  to 
know  what  they  look  like  when  they  come.  Do 
they  come  by  post  ?  " 

"  No,  dear — at  least  I  don't  think  many  do," 
answered  Hannah,  not  quite  knowing  how  to  ex- 
plain matters  to  this  original  morsel  of  humanity. 

"  Well,  tell  me  about  them  anyway,"  cried  Curly. 
"  Do  you  have  any  yourself,  Hannah  ?  " 

"  Ay,  dearie,  that  I  do." 

Curly's  eyes  opened  wide  with  astonishment  and 
delight. 

"  Do  you  ?  That's  very  interesting  ;  I  didn't  know 
you  had.  I've  never  seen  them.  Do  show  them  to 
me  now." 

"  They  aren't  things  as  can  easily  be  seen," 
answered  the  old  nurse.  Whereat  Curly  answered 
quickly, 

"  Then  tell  me  about  them — I  want  to  under- 
stand. What  is  one  of  your  'sponsibilities?" 

"  Well,  my  lamb,  you  are  one  of  them,  and 
Master  Bunny  is  another.  When  he  had  that  bad 
cough  of  his  a  month  ago  he  was  rather  a  heavy 
responsibility  for  a  bit." 


A    PAIN   OF  ORIGINALS  205 

This  was  such  a  very  astounding  answer  that 
Curly  sat  for  some  seconds  in  silence,  staring  first 
at  Hannah,  and  then  at  his  own  small  person,  as  if 
he  thought  it  must  have  undergone  some  radical 
change. 

"  Fancy  me  being  a  'sponsibility  !  "  he  said  in  an 
awe-struck  voice.  "  I  should  never  have  thought  of 
that.  I  wonder  when  I  turned  into  one.  I  didn't 
ever  feel  any  difference.  Am  I  one  of  Granny's 
'sponsibilities  too  ?  Are  you  a  'sponsibility,  Hannah  ? 
Is  Granny  a  'sponsibility  hefself?  Phyl's  baby  is 
one,  of  course — I  heard  her  say  so  ;  but  I  didn't 
think  everybody  was." 

Hannah  was  scarcely  ready  to  go  into  the  difficult 
question  of  the  responsibility  of  each  individual  in 
the  house  with  regard  to  its  other  members,  but 
Curly  was  too  intent  upon  his  own  train  of  thought 
to  heed  her  silence  very  much. 

A  good  many  things  had  happened  during  the 
year  which  had  followed  upon  the  marriage  of 
Tor  and  Phyl,  and  now  the  two  little  boys  found 
themselves  once  again  as  permanent  residents  be- 
neath their  grandmother's  roof ;  and  though  they 
were  not  altogether  certain  of  their  tenure  there, 
they  did  not  seriously  think  that  they  would  be 
easily  sent  away. 

As  others  had  foreseen,  if  Lady  Chesterton  had 
tried  to  blind  her  eyes  to  it,  her  nephew  and  his 


206  A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

bride  gradually  drew  more  and  more  towards  their 
own  home ;  and  though  constant  intercourse  was 
kept  up  between  the  Priory  and  the  manor-house, 
and  there  was  not  a  vestige  of  hurt  feeling  on 
either  side,  the  young  couple  did  decidedly  prefer 
their  own  independent  home,  and  the  old  lady  was 
left  increasingly  alone.  She  was  not  one  upon 
whom  solitude  pressed  with  any  heaviness.  She 
was  always  busy  and  always  full  of  occupation. 
She  was  too  much  the  woman  of  the  world  to  at- 
tempt to  interfere  virith  the  arrangements  of  the 
young  people — too  sensible  to  hope  to  hold  quite 
the  same  place  in  Phyl's  heart  as  she  had  done 
before  the  girl  had  married.  Now  that  there  was 
a  little  son  in  the  case,  she  knew  well  enough  that 
she  would  see  something  less  than  before  of  her 
old  favourite,  and  the  knowledge  of  what  was  com- 
ing upon  her  might  have  been  one  motive  for  the 
new  arrangement  with  regard  to  the  children  insti- 
tuted at  Christmas-time,  when  Bunny  and  Curly  had 
been  for  a  year  and  a  half  residing  for  the  main 
part  of  their  time  beneath  the  roof  of  the  Dal- 
rymples. 

Just  at  that  juncture  the  curate  had  the  offer  of 
a  living  in  the  next  county,  and  he  and  his  sister 
made  immediate  arrangements  for  leaving.  A  new 
curate  was  engaged  who  was  fully  able  to  undertake 
the  supervision  of  the  little  boys'  studies,  but  as  he 


A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  207 

had  no  private  means,  and  would  have  to  lodge  at 
one  of  the  farm-houses,  he  could  not  possibly  take 
the  care  of  the  children ;  and  unless  they  had  been 
taken  in  at  the  Priory  once  again,  they  must  have 
been  returned  to  their  London  home  once  more. 

The  little  boys,  fortunately  for  themselves,  knew 
nothing  of  the  fate  which  seemed  to  be  threatening 
them  ;  they  were  only  told  of  the  change  of  plan 
when  everything  had  been  finally  decided. 

It  was  other  people  who  had  wondered  what  their 
fate  would  be — other  people  who  had  been  afraid 
that  these  bright  and  happy  days  of  country  life 
were  drawing  to  a  close  ;  and  Tor  and  Phyl  had 
seriously  discussed  the  possibility  of  giving  the  chil- 
dren a  home  with  them,  rather  than  letting  them  go 
back  to  London  and  "  the  girls,"  when  Lady  Ches- 
terton's decision  saved  them  from  this  difficulty. 

Tor  and  Phyl  always  felt  as  if  they  had  indirectly 
been  brought  together  through  the  mediation,  con- 
scious or  unconscious,  of  the  two  small  boys,  and 
they  had  a  very  warm  affection  for  the  youthful 
pair,  and  would  have  been  loth  to  see  them  turn 
their  backs  upon  the  place  they  both  loved  so  much. 

Perhaps  Granny  had  a  softer  spot  in  her  heart  for 
the  two  little  grandsons  than  she  chose  to  admit. 
Perhaps  she  missed  the  young  life  about  the  place 
now  that  Phyl  was  only  a  visitor  instead  of  being  a 
resident.  Anyhow,  when  the  question  of  the  chil- 


208  A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

dren's  immediate  future  had  to  be  faced  she  had 
speedily  announced  her  intention  of  taking  them 
into  her  own  house,  to  continue  their  education  be- 
neath Mr.  Anderson,  the  new  curate,  and  no  one  had 
been  more  delighted  than  the  children  themselves. 

Happy  as  they  had  been  under  Miss  Dalrymple's 
care,  it  was  around  the  Priory  that  their  heart- 
strings were  wound.  Granny  was  their  beau  ideal 
of  all  that  a  granny,  or  a  person  occupying  her  posi- 
tion, should  be  ;  and  old  Hannah  stood  to  them  in 
the  light  of  an  affianced  bride,  the  only  point  not 
quite  settled  being  which  of  the  pair  should  lead 
her  to  the  altar,  Curly  stoutly  maintaining  that  he 
thought  they  had  better  get  a  special  act  of  Parlia- 
ment to  permit  them  both  to  marry  her  (since  Tor 
said  anything  could  be  got  by  act  of  Parliament), 
whilst  Bunny  was  certain  that  only  one  could  really 
have  her,  and  thought  that  perhaps  it  would  be  fair- 
est to  draw  lots.  It  did  not  occur  to  either  of  them 
to  leave  the  choice  with  the  lady.  Their  manhood 
asserted  itself  in  the  sense  of  absolute  appropriation 
of  their  kind  old  nurse,  and  certainly  she  appeared 
to  be  marvellously  willing  to  let  them  settle  the 
knotty  question  of  matrimony  their  own  way. 

So  to  come  home  to  the  Priory  for  good,  as  they 
called  it,  and  to  be  once  more  under  Hannah's 
motherly  care,  was  an  immense  source  of  delight  to 
them.  This  happy  change  had  been  instituted  at 


A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  209 

Christmas,  and  now  the  spring  was  coming  again — 
that  delightful  season  of  the  year  when  all  nature 
is  at  its  most  joyous  state,  and  when  there  seems 
every  promise  for  the  future  of  happiness  and  de- 
light. What  child  ever  thinks  of  the  slow  approach 
of  winter  when  spring  is  waking  up  the  world  to  its 
new  life  and  beauty?  It  seemed  to  both  little 
brothers  as  if  this  summer  were  to  be  the  most 
golden  of  their  lives,  for  it  had  been  decreed  that 
after  Easter,  which  fell  late,  there  should  be  very 
few  lessons  to  learn  for  some  little  time  to  come, 
and  that  the  children  should  spend  almost  the  whole 
of  their  time  out  of  doors,  working  on  their  minia- 
ture farm  and  adding  to  their  practical  rather  than 
to  their  theoretical  knowledge. 

One  reason  for  this  change  of  discipline  was  that 
Bunny  had  been  laid  up  in  March  with  a  sharp  at- 
tack of  inflammation  of  the  lungs.  He  had  never 
been  as  robust  as  Curly,  and  the  little  brother  was 
now  the  taller  and  stronger  of  the  pair.  The  cold 
east  winds  seemed  to  have  got  hold  of  Bunny,  with 
the  result  that  he  was  for  a  while  very  seriously  ill. 
The  doctor  who  attended  him  had  said  that  the 
mind  and  brain  of  the  little  fellow  were  too  active 
for  his  body,  and  had  recommended  a  cessation 
from  book-learning,  and  an  open-air  life  so  soon  as 
the  weather  should  permit  of  it.  Bunny  had  been 
very  studious  for  a  long  time,  and  had  picked  up 


210  A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

learning  very  fast.  A  few  months  of  idleness  would 
do  him  no  manner  of  harm  ;  and  as  for  Curly,  though 
he  was  not  so  advanced  as  his  brother,  he  was  quite 
forward  enough  for  his  age,  and  the  doctor  laughed 
when  asked  about  him,  and  said  the  holiday  would 
do  him  good.  He  was  almost  too  big  for  his 
years,  and,  though  he  did  not  appear  to  have  out- 
grown his  strength,  there  was  no  harm  in  letting  him 
have  a  rest  too.  So  the  small  pair  were  informed, 
to  their  great  delight,  of  the  treat  in  store,  and  they 
were  already  picturing  in  glowing  colours  the  won- 
ders they  were  to  perform  this  year. 

A  few  days  before,  Curly  had  received  a  great 
surprise  in  the  form  of  a  small  and  rotund  pony 
which  was  found  by  him  calmly  grazing  in  the  pad- 
dock. He  had  been  informed  by  the  coachman 
that  the  diminutive  animal  had  been  bought  by  her 
ladyship  in  order  that  the  little  boys  might  learn  to 
ride.  Whereupon  Curly  must  forthwith  be  lifted 
on  to  the  broad  back  of  the  pony,  and  his  riding 
lessons  had  commenced  from  that  very  day. 

Bunny  was  still  a  prisoner  in  the  house.  He 
spent  a  good  deal  of  his  time  either  in  bed  or  lying 
by  the  fire  on  the  sofa.  His  strength  was  begin- 
ning to  come  back  again,  but  not  as  fast  as  people 
would  have  liked  to  see,  and  he  was  condemned  to 
stay  in  the  house  until  the  wind  got  into  the  south 
and  some  nice  warm  weather  set  in. 


A   PA  IK   OF  ORIGINALS  21 1 

However,  as  Granny  kept  him  well  supplied  with 
amusing  story-books,  and  he  had  Curly  to  talk  to 
whenever  he  was  disposed,  Bunny  accepted  his  fate 
with  great  resignation.  He  had  not  quite  got  back 
the  wish  to  exert  himself  much,  and  it  was  very 
nice  having  such  a  quiet  resting-time  without  being 
worried  by  that  horrid  cough  which  had  given  him 
so  much  pain  and  trouble  before. 

Curly's  accounts  of  the  pony  were  very  exciting, 
and  it  was  a  daily  event  for  him  to  see  his  little 
brother  come  round  in  front  of  the  window  mounted 
on  the  miniature  steed,  who  had  plenty  of  spirit,  al- 
though exceedingly  good-tempered  and  docile  with 
his  childish  rider.  Curly  took  to  saddle-exercise 
like  a  duck  to  water,  which  pleased  Granny,  who 
in  her  day  had  been  a  great  horsewoman  and  took 
considerable  interest  in  her  grandson's  education  in 
this  matter.  The  pony  would  run  in  harness  also, 
and  drew  the  varnished  cart  in  a  fashion  very  differ- 
ent from  that  of  the  more  apathetic  donkey.  There 
seemed  no  end  of  the  pleasures  awaiting  the  chil- 
dren when  once  the  weather  should  turn  warm  and 
Bunny  be  able  to  run  about  out  of  doors  with  his 
little  brother. 

Perhaps  it  was  the  possession  of  so  many  nice 
things  that  had  set  Curly  thinking  upon  the  momen- 
tous theme  of  responsibilities.  He  had  often  heard 
Granny  say  in  some  form  or  another  that  the  pos- 


212  A  PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

session  of  this  world's  goods  entailed  these  myste- 
rious responsibilities  upon  their  possessors,  and  the 
talk  with  Phyl  a  few  days  back  upon  the  increase  of 
her  responsibilities  in  the  possession  of  a  small  son 
had  awakened  all  Curly's  spasmodic  curiosity  upon 
the  subject. 

He  now,  after  turning  matters  over  in  his  mind, 
resolved  to  make  Hannah  explain  the  whole  matter 
to  him  from  beginning  to  end.  Hannah's  explana- 
tions, as  he  well  knew,  were  not  very  lucid,  any  more 
than  were  his  own  questions  to  other  people.  Still 
he  knew  that  her  patience  was  boundless,  and  that 
if  he  only  drove  long  enough  at  one  point  he  gener- 
ally got  some  enlightenment  in  the  end — or  thought 
he  did,  which  came  to  much  the  same  thing  :  so  af- 
ter a  very  long  and  earnest  colloquy  on  the  subject, 
which  was  illustrated  by  many  instances  of  how 
Granny  took  up  the  responsibilities  of  her  position, 
Curly  felt  a  considerable  mastery  of  the  subject,  and 
decided  that  he  would  enlighten  Bunny  thereon. 

Bunny  was  having  his  afternoon  nap  all  this  time. 
He  generally  did  that  between  four  and  five,  and 
woke  up  again  at  tea-time,  and  came  in  and  took 
that  meal  with  his  small  brother.  Hannah,  after 
pouring  out  their  first  cup,  and  seeing  them  well 
begun,  used  generally  to  leave  them  to  themselves 
and  go  downstairs  to  her  own  tea.  After  she  had 
done  so  on  this  particular  April  evening,  Curly,  who 


A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  213 

was  steadily  munching  at  his  thick  slice  of  bread- 
and-butter,  at  last  laid  it  down  on  his  plate,  and, 
looking  across  at  Bunny,  remarked  solemnly, 

"  Bunny,  I  think  you  and  I  ought  to  think  seri- 
ously about  our  'sponsibilities." 

Bunny,  who  himself  loved  a  fine  phrase  and  had 
done  much  to  enlarge  Curly 's  vocabulary,  looked 
eagerly  across  at  his  small  brother,  who  continued 
his  speech  with  great  sedateness. 

"  You've  been  ill,  you  know,  and  you  haven't  had 
time  to  think  about  things.  I've  been  thinking  a 
good  deal,  and  I'm  quite  sure  we're  big  enough  now 
to  have  'sponsibilities  of  our  own.  People  always 
do  when  they've  got  a  lot  of  property — and  we've 
got  a  good  bit  ourselves  now.  There's  the  pony 
come,  too.  I  dare  say  he's  a  'sponsibility  himself, 
though  I'm  not  quite  sure." 

"  I — I  don't  think  I  quite  know  what  responsibili- 
ties are,"  said  Bunny,  slowly,  "though  I've  often 
heard  people  talk  about  them." 

"Well,  I  didn't  know  till  I  asked  Hannah;  but  I 
think  I  understand  better  now,"  said  Curly,  feeling 
not  a  little  elated  to  be  able  to  enlighten  Bunny,  who 
was  generally  himself  the  instructor.  "  You  see,  it's 
like  this  :  'sponsibilities  are  funny  kinds  of  things. 
I  think  they're  something  like  the  Cheshire  cat's 
grin — sometimes  they're  there  and  sometimes  they're 
not.  I  don't  quite  know  how  to  explain.  You  were 


214  A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

a  'sponsibility  to  Hannah  when  you  were  here  and 
were  ill,  but  you  weren't  one  when  you  lived  with 
Miss  Dalrymple  ;  and  you're  not  one  to  Watkins,  and 
I'm  not  one  neither — though  I  am  one  to  coachman 
when  he  is  teaching  me  to  ride,  but  not  when  he 
isn't.  It's  quite  queer  and  complicated,  you  see,  and 
I  don't  quite  understand  how  things  go  and  when 
they  are  and  when  they're  not  'sponsibilities.  They 
seem  to  appear  and  disappear  like  the  Cheshire  cat's 
grin.  But  Hannah  says  there  are  some  'sponsibilities 
which  are  always  there — and  I  think  it's  people  with 
land  to  look  after  who  have  those.  And  you  know 
we  have  a  good  lot  of  land,  so  I'm  sure  we  ought  to 
have  some  'sponsibilities  too.  I  asked  Hannah  what 
they  were,  but  she  only  laughed  and  said  to  be  good 
was  all  we  need  trouble  about  now.  That's  what 
people  always  say  to  us,"  concluded  Curly  with 
rather  an  injured  air;  "whatever  we  want  to  do  they 
say  we  can  do  by  being  good.  I  don't  mind  being 
pretty  good  mostly,  but  I'd  like  other  things  too. 
I  don't  think  you  and  I  are  properly  taking  up  the 
'sponsibilities  of  our  position." 

Curly  swelled  out  his  small  person  as  he  brought 
out  this  last  flower  of  speech,  which  he  had  treasured 
up  in  his  memory  after  the  overheard  conversation 
between  Granny  and  Phyl,  and  he  was  glad  to  see 
that  it  produced  a  marked  effect  upon  Bunny. 

"  I  must  think  about  that,"  he  said  ;  "  it  wouldn't 


A   PA  IK   OF  ORIGINALS  215 

do  for  us  to  get  lazy  and  careless  and  selfish.  I 
think,  now  you  mention  it,  that  when  people  won't 
take  up  their  responsibilities  they  are  always  called 
one  of  those  names." 

"  Yes,  you  think  about  it — you  are  older  than  me, 
Bunny.  And  I  have  all  the  farm  on  my  hands  just 
now,  so  that  I  don't  have  much  time.  You  know 
very  soon  we  shall  have  plenty  of  time  for  'sponsi- 
bilities  and  everything  else ;  for  it  will  soon  be 
Easter  and  my  lessons  will  stop,  and  then  we  shall 
hardly  have  any  more  till  the  summer  is  gone  away 
— and  that  won't  be  for  ages." 

Bunny  was  very  willing  to  be  the  one  to  do  the 
thinking.  He  had  had  a  good  long  spell  of  inac- 
tivity for  his  small  wits,  and  felt  that  they  would 
be  all  the  better  for  being  sharpened  up. 

With  the  privileges  of  illness  had  come  a  certain 
laxity  of  nursery  discipline  as  far  as  he  was  con- 
cerned. When  Curly  had  gone  off  to  the  tutor's  for 
lessons,  or  was  out  riding,  or  busy  upon  the  "  farm," 
as  the  paddock  and  its  live-stock  had  gradually  come 
to  be  called,  Bunny  was  permitted,  when  well 
enough,  to  ramble  about  the  warm  house  almost  at 
will,  often  finding  his  way  into  his  grandmother's 
private  room,  where  she  passed  the  greater  part  of. 
the  day,  sometimes  transacting  business,  sometimes 
reading,  or  writing  her  letters.  He  was  never  sent 
away  when  he  appeared,  but  was  accommodated 


216  A   PAIR  OF  ORIGINALS 

with  a  chair  beside  the  fire,  and  when  he  was  well 
enough,  or  had  voice  sufficient,  he  would  read  to 
her  paragraphs  out  of  the  newspaper,  and  attempt 
sometimes  to  discuss  them  with  her,  thus  gaining  a 
good  assortment  of  miscellaneous  ideas,  and  getting 
hold  of  a  great  many  fine  phrases  which  he  was 
able  to  bring  out  later  to  Curly  with  more  or  less 
effect. 

At  other  times  he  would  wander  down  to  the 
pantry,  where  Watkins  was  generally  to  be  found 
polishing  up  the  large  flagons  or  candelabra  which 
adorned  the  dining-room  sideboard  and  Lady  Ches- 
terton's dining-table,  or  regularly  cleaning  the  stores 
of  massive  plate  which  the  house  boasted.  He  was 
a  nice  old  man,  and  was  always  ready  to  talk,  and, 
though  by  no  means  always  good  at  keeping  to  the 
point,  would  ramble  on  by  the  hour  together  if  he 
could  find  a  listener,  and  delighted  to  make  the  little 
invalid  warm  and  comfortable,  and  talk  to  him  when 
nothing  better  offered. 

So,  upon  the  very  next  day  after  Curly  had  gone 
off  to  lessons,  Bunny  resolved,  as  soon  as  he  was  up, 
to  go  down  to  Watkins  in  the  pantry,  and  have  a 
talk  about  responsibilities,  trying  if  possible  to  dis- 
cover what  were  his  own  and  Curly 's  ;  for  the  more 
he  thought  about  the  matter  the  more  certain  he 
was  that  there  must  be  some  waiting  for  them 
somewhere  :  only  it  was  rather  humiliating  to  have 


A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  217 

to  ask  directly  what  they  were.     He  would  much 
rather,  if  he  could,  find  it  out  for  himself. 

So  Bunny  resolved  to  go  about  things  in  a  dip- 
lomatic way,  and  after  having  exchanged  greetings 
with  the  old  butler,  and  ensconced  himself  comfort- 
ably in  the  easy  chair  that  was  always  put  at  his 
disposal,  he  looked  at  the  quantities  of  shining  plate 
displayed  before  his  eyes,  and  remarked  sagely, 

"  I  should  think,  Watkins,  that  you  must  feel  to 
have  a  great  many  responsibilities." 

"  You  may  say  that,  sir,"  was  the  hearty  answer. 
"  Why,  every  one  of  these  'ere  spoons  and  forks  is,  in 
a  manner  of  speaking,  a  responsibility — to  say  noth- 
ing of  them  bigger  things,  as  might  weigh  down  a 
younger  man  altogether.  It's  a  deal  for  any  one 
man  to  have  on  his  mind  ;  but  I've  been  too  long 
with  her  ladyship  to  think  of  any  change.  Why — 

Watkins  went  on  talking,  but  Bunny  did  not  listen. 
He  well  knew  the  rambling  sort  of  talk  that  would 
be  going  on — tales  of  how  he  first  came  to  service 
at  Ladywell  Priory,  stories  of  old  days  that  Bunny 
knew  by  heart. 

The  little  boy  felt  as  though  he  had  received  a 
slap  in  the  face.  He  had  come  to  have  a  serious 
conversation  about  responsibility,  and  was  told  that 
it  was  spoons  and  forks !  What  should  he  hear 
next  ?  Everybody  told  a  different  tale.  Phyl's  was 
a  baby  ;  Granny's  was  tenants — he  had  heard  her  say 


2l8  A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

so  once,  he  was  sure  ;  Hannah's  seemed  to  be  their 
two  selves  ;  Watkins  talked  about  spoons  and  forks. 

Bunny  turned  all  this  over  in  his  mind  till  a  cer- 
tain glimmering  of  the  truth  began  to  come  to  him  ; 
but  he  could  not  grasp  the  idea  in  anything  like  its 
fulness,  and  he  wished  he  could  get  it  explained. 
Granny  no  doubt  would  tell  him  best  if  he  asked, 
but  little  folks  seldom  go  to  the  best  fountain-head 
for  their  supplies.  With  all  her  kindness  and  liber- 
ality, there  was  always  something  a  little  formidable 
about  Granny,  and  she  did  not  encourage  the  children 
to  chatter  unrestrainedly  before  her,  or  to  look  to 
receive  her  undivided  attention  when  they  were 
with  her,  as  is  too  much  the  way  with  children  in 
modern  days.  Granny  was  old-fashioned  in  her 
notions  of  discipline,  and  Bunny  and  Curly  were 
often  reminded  that  children  were  to  be  seen  and 
not  heard.  A  few  of  the  ordinary  barriers  as  to 
rules  and  regulations  had  been  broken  down  during 
Bunny's  convalescence,  but  even  with  all  that  there 
was  nothing  like  unrestrained  intercourse  between 
grandmother  and  grandson.  Granny  was  generally 
busy,  and  Bunny  would  never  have  dreamed  of  dis- 
turbing her  by  putting  questions  out  of  his  own 
head. 

It  was  much  easier  to  question  Watkins,  but  the 
reply  about  the  spoons  and  forks  was  a  little  quench- 
ing. But  suddenly  Bunny  heard  the  momentous 


A    PA  IK   OF  ORIGINALS  219 

word  crop  out  in  the  midst  of  the  story  Watkins 
was  telling,  and  his  attention  was  at  once  riveted. 
"And  my  lady  she  said,  '  It's  a  responsibility  we 
can't  ignore,'  and  then  they  set  to  to  think  what  was 
to  be  done." 

"  What  was  the  responsibility  ? "  asked  Bunny, 
eagerly. 

"  Why,  having  all  these  people — tenants  and  cot- 
tagers and  everybody  on  the  estate — and  not  a 
church  fit  for  them  to  meet  in,  or  a  parson  they 
would  even  go  and  hear.  You  see,  little  master,  this 
was  long  years  ago,  when  things  were  very  different 
from  what  they  are  now,  and  master's  big  property 
up  in  the  north — that  is  sold  now  because  your  papa 
didn't  care  to  live  there,  so  they  broke  the  entail 
and  got  rid  of  it — wasn't  like  this  place  here,  which 
belongs  to  her  ladyship  in  her  own  right.  But  when 
he  married  and  came  there  with  his  wife — I  mean 
your  grandfather,  Sir  Ronald,  you  know — I  came 
and  took  service  with  them  then,  and  I  saw  all  her 
ladyship  did  to  get  things  different-like  for  the 
people." 

"  What  did  she  do  ?  "  asked  Bunny  ;  for  this  was  a- 
new  story,  or  at  least  partially  so,  and  he  was  quite 
interested. 

"  Well,  the  first  thing  was  to  put  the  church  in 
order,  and  then  to  get  something  done  so  as  to 
have  a  new  clergyman,  for  the  old  was  a  real  bad 


220  A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

'un,  you  see,  and  not  one  of  the  people  would  go 
near  the  church  whilst  he  was  there.  But  what 
her  ladyship  meant  when  she  said  they  couldn't 
ignore  the  responsibility  was  about  the  children. 
They  ran  about  like  little  savages,  and  hardly  knew 
how  to  talk  so  as  to  be  understood ;  and  as  for 
reading  or  writing — Lor'  bless  you,  sir,  there  was 
scarce  a  grown  person  in  the  place  as  knew  their 
letters.  Her  ladyship  she  never  did  hold  with  a 
lot  of  schooling  for  working  folks,  and  never  thought 
much  of  these  Board-schools  as  folks  talk  of  now- 
adays ;  but  she  spoke  out  plain  and  strong  then. 
'  I  should  wish  that  every  child  on  the  estate  should 
be  able  to  read  his  Bible  and  write  his  own  name 
— which  means  that  if  taken  away  from  his  home 
he  might  be  able  to  send  a  few  lines  to  his  mother 
to  tell  her  he  was  alive  and  well.'  And  with  that 
she  set  to  work  herself  to  found  a  dame's  school 
for  the  girls  and  boys,  and  on  Sunday  she  had  the 
best  behaved  up  to  the  laundry  and  gave  them 
some  teaching  herself;  and  bit  by  bit  things  got 
better-like,  and  all  the  folks  said  as  there  wasn't 
a  lady  in  the  kingdom  as  would  have  conquered 
the  difficulties  so  quickly  as  her  ladyship  did.  Ah, 
she's  a  wonderful  woman,  she  is." 

"  And  that  was  taking  up  her  responsibilities,  was 
it,"  said  Bunny,  gravely  and  thoughtfully — "  teaching 
children  not  to  be  savage,  and  how  to  read  and  write  ?" 


A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  221 

"  Ay ;  and  a  deal  of  good  she  did  in  many  another 
way  too.  Rich  folks  have  a  sight  of  responsibilities 
upon  them — worse  sometimes  than  my  spoons  and 
forks.  But  there,  there ;  we  each  of  us  has  our 
niche  carved  out  for  us,  and  we  must  try  and  fit  it 
as  best  we  may." 

Bunny  spent  a  long  time  in  the  pantry  that  morn- 
ing, talking  long  and  earnestly  with  the  garrulous 
butler;  but  when  he  went  upstairs  at  last,  it  was 
with  a  feeling  of  considerable  enlightenment ;  and 
as  he  sat  nursing  his  knees  on  the  rug  beside  the 
fire,  he  remarked  complacently  to  himself, 

"  Well,  I  think  I  shall  be  able  to  tell  Curly  some- 
thing now.  It  would  be  rather  a  nice  thing  to  do, 
I  think ;  and  I  believe  it  is  a  real  responsibility, 
because  I  don't  think  anybody  knows  about  them 
but  us." 


CHAPTER  XIII 

CURLY,  on  his  side,  had  a  very  pleasant  day,  with 
an  unexpected  variation  of  the  usual  routine  of  his 
life.  He  went  as  usual  to  Mr.  Anderson  for  his 
morning's  lessons,  but  when  these  were  done  he 
found  Phyl  waiting  for  him  in  her  pretty  pony 
phaeton,  to  drive  him  to  her  house  to  spend  the 
afternoon. 

"  It  is  such  a  long  time  since  you  were  there, 
little  viking,"  she  said,  "  I  told  Tor  I  really  would 
not  have  it  any  longer,  and  that  I  would  go  over 
and  carry  either  one  or  both  of  you  off  by  fair 
means  or  foul.  Bunny  would  like  to  have  come, 
but  Granny  said  the  doctor  would  rage  if  he  heard 
of  his  having  been  taken  to  drive  out  in  an  open 
carriage ;  but  she  said  that  she  would  have  him  to 
lunch  with  her  if  I  fetched  you  away  to  spend  the 
day  with  me." 

Curly  was  very  content  to  be  fetched.  He  liked 
Phyl,  was  devoted  to  Tor,  and  interested  in  the  new 
baby,  though  regarding  it  with  a  certain  amount  of 
scorn,  as  an  object  utterly  useless  and  not  (in  his 

222 


A    PA  IK   OF  ORIGINALS  223 

eyes)  at  all  ornamental,  though  he  heard  other 
people  speak  of  it  as  being  very  lovely  and  ador- 
able. 

"  If  I'd  been  you,  Phyl,"  he  remarked  as  they 
drove  along,  "  I'd  have  bought  that  baby  of  yours 
bigger.  Why,  Hannah  says  it'll  be  a  year  before  it 
can  even  stand  on  its  hind-legs  or  begin  to  talk.  I'd 
have  got  a  bigger  one  whilst  I  was  about  it.  Fancy 
having  it  a  whole  year  wanting  a  nurse  to  carry  it 
about !  What  an  awful  bore  it  must  be !  I  think 
you  made  a  mistake — I  really  do.  You  know  when 
Granny  bought  us  the  pony  she  particularly  said 
she  wouldn't  have  it  too  young,  because  young 
things  were  so  troublesome  and  not  half  the  use 
they  were  when  they  were  older.  I  think  you'd 
better  have  asked  her  advice  about  getting  an  older 
baby." 

Phyl's  eyes  were  full  of  fun  as  she  answered, 

"  Well,  perhaps  it  would  have  been  better,  now 
you  mention  it,  you  little  wiseacre;  but  really  it 
did  not  occur  to  me  at  the  time." 

"  Perhaps  you  could  change  him, "  suggested 
Curly,  struck  by  a  bright  idea.  "  I  know  Granny 
once  changed  a  carriage-horse  that  didn't  suit,  only 
she  had  to  pay  rather  more,  coachman  said,  than  if 
she'd  bought  him  straight  down." 

Phyl  laughed  as  she  replied, 

"  Well,  you  see,  I've  got  rather  fond  of  little  Tor, 


224  A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

and  as  he's  been  given  Tor's  name,  I  think  it  might 
be  rather  a  pity  to  change  him  now.  He  will  get 
bigger  in  time." 

"Yes,  I  suppose  he  will.  I  know  one  does  get 
fond  of  things  even  though  they  are  troublesome. 
But  perhaps  if  you  changed  him  you  could  get  a 
baby  who  wouldn't  be  such  a  'sponsibility." 

"  Who  told  you  he  was  one  ? "  asked  Phyl  with 
dancing  eyes. 

"  You  told  Granny  your  own  self.  You  said  a 
young  baby  was  a  'sponsibility,  or  something  like 
that.  Perhaps  if  you  changed  him  for  a  bigger  one 
he  would  be  less  of  a  'sponsibility.". 

"  I'm  afraid  not,  Curly ;  I'm  afraid  it  goes  rather 
the  other  way,"  answered  Phyl,  half  grave,  half 
laughing.  "  But  never  mind ;  I  don't  think  I'd  be 
without  him,  responsibility  or  not ;  and  you  must 
learn  to  love  him  too,  and  be  good  to  him  when  he 
grows  older,  for  you  know  you  are  a  kind  of  little 
uncle  to  him,  though  you  will  be  more  like  a  big 
brother,  I  think." 

Curly's  eyes  opened  wide.  He  felt  quite  swelled 
out  with  importance  at  hearing  that  he  was  actually 
a  kind  of  uncle.  The  idea  had  never  presented 
itself  to  him  before,  though  to  be  sure  Hannah  had 
said  something  like  it  to  Bunny  once.  Curly  asso- 
ciated the  idea  of  uncle  with  grown  men  with 
whiskers  and  walking-sticks,  like  the  only  uncle  he 


A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  225 

ever  remembered  to  have  seen  in  the  London  house. 
It  was  a  very  magnificent  thing  to  hear  that  he  was 
an  uncle  himself. 

"  Oh,  I'll  be  awfully  good  to  him,"  he  answered 
eagerly.  "  I'll  be  the  kind  of  uncle  boys  sometimes 
have  in  books.  Don't  change  him,  Phyl,  'cause 
p'raps  I  shouldn't  be  uncle  to  the  bigger  one."  He 
paused  a  few  moments  and  then  said  reflectively, 
"  Phyl,  do  you  think  being  an  uncle  makes  one  have 
fresh  'sponsibilities  ?  " 

Phyl  looked  smilingly  into  the  solemn  face  of  the 
little  boy  and  asked, 

"  What  has  put  that  notion  into  your  head, 
Curly  ?  " 

He  blushed.  He  did  not  care  to  tell  Phyl  that 
he  and  Bunny  were  on  the  lookout  for  the  respon- 
sibilities of  their  position,  and  that  he  would  have 
been  glad  of  some  information  on  the  subject. 
Curly  possessed  a  good  deal  of  the  inherent  reti- 
cence of  childhood ;  and  though  Phyl  was  a  sort  of 
playfellow  and  confidante  to  both  little  boys,  she 
also  ranked  as  a  grown-up  person  who  understood 
all  those  obscure  remarks  and  allusions  which  often 
set  them  in  a  maze.  As  the  child  did  not  reply, 
Phyl  went  on  speaking  herself. 

"  I  don't  think  your  responsibilities  towards  little 
Tor  will  be  very  serious  yet  awhile.  When  he 
grows  older,  if  you  are  still  here  you  will  have  to 


226  A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

be  careful  about  leading  him  into  mischief.  If  he 
takes  after  his  father  and  mother,  I'm  afraid  he  will 
get  into  plenty  on  his  own  account  without  any 
prompting." 

Curly  did  not  feel  that  he  had  gained  any  partic- 
ular information  upon  his  point,  but  the  carriage 
was  quickly  approaching  the  old  manor-house,  and 
there  was  Tor  on  the  lawn,  playing  with  the  big 
mastiff  dog,  and  watching  for  Phyl's  return. 

"  Holloa,  Curly !  so  you  have  turned  up,  have  you  ? 
How  do,  old  man  ?  What,  are  you  going  to  drive 
round  to  the  stables  ?  Bravo,  old  chap !  You  are 
getting  on  with  your  accomplishments.  That's 
right ;  hold  him  well  in  hand  :  he  has  a  trick  of  trying 
to  take  that  corner  too  fine  in  his  hurry  to  get  to 
his  stable.  He'll  make  a  man  one  of  these  days," 
added  Tor  to  his  wife,  as  Curly  disappeared  round 
the  corner.  "  What  a  lot  of  good  it  is  doing  those 
children  for  Granny  to  have  taken  them  in  hand  ! " 

"  Indeed  yes ;  and  I  don't  think  she  would  like  to 
be  without  them  now.  She  does  not  exactly  say  so, 
but  I  think  she  finds  Bunny  very  good  company. 
Evidently  she  sees  a  good  deal  of  him  now  that  he 
is  boxed  up  in  the  house.  I  think  his  society 
affords  her  a  considerable  amount  of  amusement." 

Curly  always  enjoyed  a  visit  to  Tor's  house. 
Everything  there  was  very  nice,  and  Phyl  kept  her 
pretty  house  beautifully  ;  but  there  was  an  air  of 


A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  227 

freedom  and  unrestraint  about  it  quite  different 
from  anything  to  be  found  at  the  Priory.  The  little 
boy  felt  free  to  slide  down  the  tempting  balustrade 
of  the  staircase,  to  shout  aloud  for  Phyl  or  Tor  all 
over  the  house,  to  run  about  after  them  where  and 
as  he  would,  and  to  make  himself  generally  at  home 
both  in-  and  out-doors. 

There  was  a  nice  old-fashioned  garden  round  the 
house,  which  in  time  would  be  exceedingly  pretty. 
A  great  deal  had  been  already  accomplished,  and 
Phyl  had  transplanted  numbers  of  her  pet  plants 
from  the  Priory  garden  here,  and  a  little  later  on  in 
the  year  there  would  be  a  blaze  of  bloom  in  the 
long  borders  that  ran  under  the  windows  and  by  the 
laurel  hedge.  As  it  was,  the  bulbs  were  fast  coming 
into  bloom.  The  crocuses  were  past  their  glory, 
and  daffodils  of  all  kinds  were  rearing  their  heads 
and  nodding  gaily  in  the  sunshine.  Curly  was  fond 
of  flowers,  and  was  beginning  to  be  rather  knowing 
about  their  names  and  habits.  His  own  garden, 
which  certainly  did  him  credit,  seeing  that  he  had 
had  to  dispense  with  any  assistance  from  Bunny 
latterly,  was  almost  as  bright  as  Phyl's,  he  confided 
to  her. 

"  Only,  of  course,  it  isn't  so  big,  because  I  have 
other  things  to  grow  too,  and  one  can't  do  every- 
thing at  once." 

"And    how    are    the   chickens?  and   is   the   pig 


228  A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

well?     I  have  not  been  round  the  farm  for  a  long 
time." 

"  No — you  have  been  so  lazy  all  the  winter,  Phyl. 
But  you  must  come  soon.  We've  got  two  pigs  now. 
The  first  we  had  was  fatted  when  he  was  big 
enough,  and  then  Granny  had  him,  and  she  gave 
us  a  lot  of  money  for  him,  and  we  bought  two  little 
ones,  and  the  rest  of  the  money  we  spent  in  barley, 
meal,  and  corn  for  the  chickens.  Bunny  said  it 
wasn't  fair  to  expect  Granny  to  give  us  everything, 
and  so  when  we  had  two  pigs  instead  of  one  we 
bought  them  some  food  ourselves.  We  keep  it  in 
the  hut,  because  Bunny  can't  live  there,  we  find, 
and  Granny  has  let  the  carpenter  make  it  into  a  sort 
of  storehouse  for  our  things.  It's  much  warmer 
really  than  it  was  when  we  lived  in  it,  and  if  ever 
we  do  want  to  squat  there  again  it  will  be  a  capital 
house  for  us.  But  Granny  seems  to  like  us  to  live 
with  her  now,  and  we  don't  mind."  Curly  spoke 
with  a  condescending  grace  that  sent  Tor  off  into 
a  fit  of  laughter.  "  Of  course  it  would  be  more 
amusing  if  Granny  and  Hannah  would  come  and 
live  with  us  in  the  hut ;  but  as  they  don't  care  to 
do  that,  the  next  best  is  for  us  to  live  with  them. 
I  don't  think  it  does  for  a  big  house  like  that  not 
to  have  a  man  in  it.  Of  course  there  is  Watkins ; 
but  he's  so  old,  and  he  isn't  very  brave.  He  runs 
away  when  we  get  the  old  pistols  off  the  table  in 


A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  229 

the  big  hall  and  rush  at  him  as  if  we  were  brigands. 
He  runs  away  and  hides  in  his  pantry.  Of  course  if 
anybody  really  did  come  to  attack  the  house,  that 
sort  of  thing  wouldn't  do  at  all.  Watkins  would  be 
no  good,  and  I  don't  think  the  footman  would  be 
either.  I  expect  everything  would  fall  on  Bunny 
and  me.  We  shouldn't  run  away." 

"  No,  you  would  feel  the  responsibilities  of  your 
position  too  much,"  said  Tor,  with  a  grave  face  and 
dancing  eyes ;  "  the  whole  household  would  depend 
upon  you  in  such  an  emergency  as  a  midnight 
attack  of  robbers." 

Curly  looked  up  quickly  with  an  eager  light  in 
his  eyes,  but  the  bell  was  already  ringing  for  the 
mid-day  meal,  and  he  went  into  the  dining-room  in 
the  wake  of  his  host  and  hostess. 

That  afternoon  he  spent  mostly  with  Tor,  going 
round  the  farm-places,  looking  at  the  stock,  and 
asking  innumerable  questions  about  various  things 
which  struck  him.  He  thought  Tor  was  a  very 
good  farmer  (as  indeed  he  was),  and  secretly  hoped 
that  when  he  and  Bunny  were  grown  up,  Granny 
would  give  them  a  farm,  as  she  had  given  Tor  one, 
and  let  them  help  her  to  look  after  her  property  as 
well.  About  three  o'clock,  when  Tor  had  to  go  off 
in  another  direction  to  visit  some  fields  that  were 
being  sown  down,  Curly  begged  to  be  allowed  to 
accompany  him,  and  to  his  great  delight  was 


230  A   PAIR  OF  ORIGINALS 

mounted  on  a  small  pony  and  permitted  to  trot 
along  beside  Tor's  tall  horse. 

Tor  had  only  once  seen  the  little  fellow  on  horse- 
back, and  that  was  almost  the  first  time  he  had 
been  mounted.  He  was  very  well  satisfied  with  his 
progress  since  that  day,  and  gave  him  several  hints 
that  Curly  listened  to  eagerly.  He  thought  Tor's 
way  of  holding  the  rein  very  superior  to  that 
taught  by  coachman;  and  though  Tor  was  very 
quick  to  note  anything  amiss,  and  pulled  the  little 
boy  up  very  soon  if  he  got  careless  or  slovenly, 
Curly  felt  it  a  great  advance  to  be  riding  beside  his 
tall  companion  along  the  open  roads,  and  came 
home  at  tea-time  very  thirsty,  but  exceedingly 
elated  by  all  he  had  seen  and  done. 

Phyl  was  in  the  conservatory  that  Granny  had 
built  out  beyond  the  drawing-room,  and  which  Phyl 
used  almost  like  a  second  drawing-room,  for  it  was 
too  big  for  her  to  keep  full  of  flowers  from  her  little 
range  of  pits  in  the  kitchen-garden,  so  that  half  of 
it  was  covered  with  rugs  and  furnished  with  com- 
fortable wicker  chairs,  and  on  bright  afternoons  Phyl 
would  always  have  tea  out  here,  and  the  baby  was 
often  to  be  found  lying  contentedly  at  her  feet  in  a 
little  wicker  cradle,  as  Curly  found  him  to-day. 

He  squatted  down  on  the  rug  beside  the  baby, 
and  looked  at  the  small  fat  hands  that  were  aim- 
lessly trying  to  clutch  at  his  bright  hair  as  it 


A   PAIR   Of  ORIGINALS  231 

glistened  in  the  sunlight.  Curly's  hair  had  never 
grown  long  again  since  the  night  of  the  fire,  nearly 
two  years  ago,  though  it  was  not  kept  quite  as  short 
as  the  young  gentleman  himself  would  have  preferred, 
but  was  allowed  to  wave  round  his  head  in  a  float- 
ing crop  of  tangled  curls,  so  that  he  looked  like  a 
veritable  little  cherub,  though  Phyl  still  stuck  to  her 
original  name  of  the  "  little  viking." 

"  I  think  he's  a  nice  baby,  Phyl,"  said  Curly, 
meditatively,  "  but  I  should  admire  him  more  if  he 
would  not  be  always  screwing  up  his  face  like  that." 

"  Well,  it  might  be  more  becoming  if  he  did  not," 
admitted  the  mother ;  "  but  it's  a  way  babies  have  at 
that  age,  I  believe." 

"  They  are  always  hideous  little  monsters,"  con- 
cluded Tor,  as  he  came  in  and  lifted  the  child  high 
in  his  arms,  whilst  it  crowed  aloud  in  delight. 

"  If  you  think  it's  a  hideous  little  monster,  I  won- 
der you  cared  to  buy  it,"  remarked  Curly,  setting 
himself  to  the  serious  business  of  tea,  and  looking  at 
Tor  over  the  edge  of  his  cup  with  an  air  of  surprise. 

"  Well,  perhaps  it  was  rather  a  mistake,"  answered 
Tor,  setting  down  the  child  on  Phyl's  lap  and  taking 
his  own  cup,  "  but  I  have  a  kind  of  foolish  weakness 
for  the  little  beggar,  now  he  has  come.  Don't  you 
think  he's  shamefully  backward,  Curly  ?  Why,  I 
expected  he'd  be  walking  and  talking  by  this  time." 

"  Well,  then,  I  don't  think  you  know  much  about 


232  A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

that  kind  of  animal,"  said  Curly ;  "  I  know  a  great 
deal  more  than  you  do.  He  won't  walk  till  he's 
about  a  year  old,  and  then  he'll  begin  to  try  and 
talk  if  he's  pretty  forward ;  but  some  of  them  don't 
speak  a  bit  plain  till  they  get  to  be  pretty  nearly 
two.  I  think  myself  it's  a  mistake  to  get  them 
so  young.  I  should  have  bought  one  bigger  to  start 
with." 

"  Well,  when  you  get  to  be  a  man,  you  might  set 
up  a  baby-farm  of  your  own,  and  keep  the  neighbour- 
hood supplied  to  order,"  answered  Tor  ;  "  I  don't 
think  there  is  such  a  thing  just  round  here,  or  we 
might  have  done  better.  But  since  you  know  so 
much  about  the  species,  you  might  make  it  a  very 
profitable  concern.  When  you  do,  we'll  think  about 
giving  you  our  custom,  eh,  Phyl  ?  ' 

But  Phyl  only  said,  "Silly  boy!"  and  then  Tor 
laughed ;  but  Curly  sat  still  drinking  his  tea  and 
turning  the  new  idea  over  in  his  mind.  He  didn't 
think  it  at  all  a  silly  one  ;  it  might  be  a  very  "  good 
speculation  "  some  day,  as  people  said  of  other  kinds 
of  farms.  He  had  certainly  never  seen  a  baby-farm 
yet,  but  then  he  was  aware  by  this  time  that  there 
were  a  considerable  number  of  things  that  he  had 
never  seen  in  his  small  life.  It  certainly  did  not 
follow  that  he  never  would :  and  Hannah,  if  either 
he  or  Bunny  married  her,  would  be  a  capital  person 
to  help  them  to  look  after  it,  for  she  knew  a  great 


A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  233 

deal  about  babies — she  had  told  him  all  he  knew, 
and  Tor  had  said  that  was  a  great  deal — and  she 
would  certainly  be  a  great  help.  If  babies  were 
profitable,  it  might  be  a  very  good  branch  to  open. 
He  looked  up  at  Phyl  by-and-by  to  ask, 

"  Do  babies  cost  much  ?  " 

The  talk  between  husband  and  \vife  had  mean- 
time drifted  to  other  channels,  so  that  nobody  saw 
the  drift  of  the  child's  question.  Tor  laughed  as 
he  answered, 

"  I  should  think  they  did !  the  most  expensive 
little  beggars  out.  There's  no  end  to  what  they 
cost  one,  eh,  Phyl  ?  " 

Curly  went  back  into  his  brown  study.  If  he 
and  Bunny  could  buy  up  babies  cheap  and  sell 
them  to  people  who  had  to  give  a  great  deal  for 
them,  it  might  be  a  very  lucrative  branch  of  the 
business.  He  did  not  think  it  was  at  all  a  bad  idea 
of  Tor's,  and  rather  wondered  why  he  didn't  adopt 
it  himself ;  but  perhaps  he  had  enough  to  do  as  it 
was,  and  he  had  Granny's  work  to  do,  often,  as  well 
as  his  own. 

Time  was,  however,  getting  on,  and  Curly  got  up 
to  go.  The  walk  home  was  nothing  for  his  sturdy 
little  limbs — only  two  miles  across  country  by  an 
unfrequented  path  he  and  Bunny  had  discovered 
for  themselves.  By  the  road  it  was  three  miles,  and 
by  the  ordinary  foot-path  two  and  a  half ;  but  the 


234  A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

little  brothers  had  recently  discovered  a  new  and 
delightful  way  of  their  own  which  was  shorter 
than  any  of  the  others,  though  to  be  sure  it  was 
rather  rough  walking. 

This  was,  however,  no  drawback  to  them.  They 
were  light  and  active,  and  too  small  to  be  incom- 
moded by  the  -overhanging  boughs  of  the  trees, 
which  would  have  caught  the  heads  or  hats  of  older 
persons.  A  wood  is  always  enchanting  to  small 
children,  and  this  wood  was  particularly  attractive, 
for  in  the  midst  of  a  large  clearing  there  was  an 
old,  deserted  stone-quarry,  where  were  several 
tumble-down  huts  in  which,  in  old  times,  the 
quarrymen  had  lived,  and  beside  the  huts  a 
dilapidated  crane  and  other  fascinating  things, 
whilst  the  ground  was  all  sparkling  and  shiny  with 
fragments  of  quartz  and  spar  which  had  at  some 
time  or  another  been  quarried  out  of  the  rocks. 

A  stream  ran  trickling  through  the  wood,  and  at 
the  foot  of  the  quarry  had  formed  a  deep  dark  pool, 
from  the  other  side  of  which  it  escaped  in  a  shining 
and  bubbling  little  cascade.  Altogether  it  was  a 
very  captivating  spot,  and  the  little  boys  had  spent 
a  great  deal  of  time  here  during  the  past  summer. 
Curly  had  begun  to  pay  occasional  visits  to  it 
already,  now  that  the  spring  was  coming  again,  and 
the  first  time  he  had  gone  there  he  had  had  a  great 
surprise. 


A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  235 

Actually  the  old  huts  had  been  patched  up  in  a 
very  rough  way,  and  some  people  were  living  in 
them.  At  first  the  little  boy  was  rather  vexed,  for 
he  had  hoped  that  nobody  in  the  world  knew  about 
the  place  except  himself  and  his  brother.  But  he 
was  too  much  interested  to  go  away  without  finding 
out  what  it  all  meant,  and  he  had  gone  up  to  the 
nearest  one  and  made  inquiries.  At  first  he  had 
been  rather  surprised  by  the  reception  he  met. 
There  was  a  queer-looking  old  woman  inside  who 
bid  him  begone  in  a  fierce  voice,  and  then  a  lot 
of  dirty  children  had  come  swarming  about  him, 
and  other  younger  women  had  appeared,  staring  at 
him  through  their  matted  locks,  until  a  timid  child 
would  have  been  fairly  frightened.  But  Curly  was 
not  timid,  and  he  only  thought  he  had  come  across 
a  settlement  of  bush-rangers  or  wild  Indians,  or 
something  of  that  sort — just  as  he  and  Bunny  had 
always  longed  to  do.  If  only  they  would  not  insist 
on  scalping  him  and  eating  him  without  understand- 
ing that  he  was  their  friend,  he  felt  sure  all  would 
go  well ;  and  accordingly  he  had  been  very  polite, 
had  told  the  old  woman  that  he  was  very  pleased 
to  make  her  acquaintance,  and  had  asked  very 
courteously  if  he  could  do  anything  to  help 
them. 

Something  in  his  speech  and  manner  had  very 
quickly  disarmed  hostility,  and  Curly  had  been 


236  A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

invited  into  the  stuffy  little  hut  and  enlightened  as 
to  the  meaning  of  this  odd  incursion. 

It  seemed  that  these  people  were  part  of  a  gang 
of  travelling  tinkers  or  vagrants,  commonly  called 
gipsies,  though  frequently  they  have  little  connec- 
tion with  the  real  gipsy  folk.  In  the  winter  they 
took  refuge  in  some  town,  living  as  best  they  might 
in  very  miserable  fashion ;  but  with  the  first  of  the 
warm  weather  starting  forth  with  their  caravan,  to 
seek  for  work  along  the  roads,  sometimes  begging, 
only  too  often  stealing  (though  this  they  did  not  tell 
to  Curly),  and  making  in  the  busy  times  of  the  year 
a  fairly  good  thing  out  of  it  by  engaging  themselves 
to  farmers  who  were  short  of  hands  at  hay  and 
harvest. 

This  year  the  caravan  had  started  rather  earlier 
than  usual,  the  season  being  forward  and  winter 
quarters  particularly  uncomfortable.  But  it  was 
too  early  for  there  to  be  much  work  for  loafers,  and 
nights  were  cold  for  sleeping  out,  whilst  only  the 
women  and  children  could  find  accommodation 
inside  the  caravan.  This  being  so,  when  the  party 
had  reached  this  deserted  spot  with  its  row  of  huts, 
it  had  been  decided  that  the  able-bodied  men  and 
boys  should  take  the  van  and  move  about,  trying 
to  get  tinkering  and  other  kinds  of  work  to  do  in 
the  neighbourhood,  whilst  the  women  and  children 
should  remain  in  the  huts,  supplied  with  the  neces- 


A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  237 

saries  of  life  by  their  comrades,  who  would  not  be 
very  far  away,  until  the  weather  became  sufficiently 
warm  to  proceed  as  usual. 

It  took  Curly  a  long  time  to  understand  the  talk 
of  these  queer  people,  and  he  did  not  fully  under- 
stand their  position  now ;  still  he  knew  enough  to 
bring  home  to  Bunny  a  tolerably  connected  tale,  and 
since  that  time  the  "  gipsies  "  had  been  a  favourite 
theme  with  the  little  brothers,  and  Bunny  much 
hoped  soon  to  make  their  personal  acquaintance. 

Curly  had  been  once  or  twice  since  his  first  en- 
counter, and  now  considered  himself  quite  a  friend 
of  the  old  woman,  who  appeared  to  be  the  grand- 
mother of  the  whole  colony.  He  took  her  little 
presents  when  he  went — a  screw  of  'baccy  (though  at 
first  he  had  been  rather  scandalised  to  find  that  she 
smoked,  and  had  told  her  that  he  didn't  at  all  think 
his  Granny  did),  or  a  meat  pie,  or  a  woollen  com- 
forter, such  as  Bunny  had  learned  to  knit  whilst  he 
had  been  confined  to  the  house.  So  the  little  boy 
in  the  blue  sailor  suit  with  the  crop  of  golden  curls 
was  a  welcome  visitor  at  the  huts.  The  children 
swarmed  out  to  see  him,  the  babies  crowed  and 
laughed  when  he  snapped  his  fingers  at  them,  and 
the  old  woman  told  him  he  was  as  welcome  as 
flowers  in  May,  and  bid  him  sit  down  in  her  stuffy 
little  hut  to  have  a  chat  with  her  whenever  he 
appeared. 


238  A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

He  was  not  going  to  pass  his  friends  by  this  even- 
ing, although  he  had  not  much  time  to  spare.  It 
was  a  beautifully  warm  evening,  and  even  the  old 
woman  was  outside  the  hut,  smoking  her  pipe  at  the 
door.  The  children  were  sprawling  about  in  pict- 
uresque confusion  ;  and  as  Curly  cast  his  eyes  upon 
a  pair  of  swarthy  little  twins  some  six  months  old, 
entwined  in  an  indiscriminate  embrace,  a  sudden 
flash  of  inspiration  came  across  him,  and  he  stopped 
quite  still  for  a  moment,  saying  to  himself, 

"  Why,  I  declare  we  could  begin  now.  That's  an 
awfully  nice  pair  of  babies,  and  old  granny  here 
said,  last  time  I  talked  to  her,  that  they  had  more 
babies  than  they  knew  what  to  do  with,  and  she 
wished  they  could  get  rid  of  a  few.  I  believe  they'd 
give  us  some  if  we  asked,  and  then  we  could  begin 
directly.  I  declare  I'll  speak  to  old  granny  about 
it  this  very  night." 

Baring  his  sunny  curls — as  the  little  boy  always 
did  when  he  spoke  to  a  woman,  of  whatever  rank — 
he  stepped  forward  into  the  circle  around  the  huts. 

"  Good-evening,  old  granny,"  he  said  cheerily — he 
had  explained  to  her  upon  a  previous  occasion  that 
he  was  obliged  to  address  her  after  this  fashion,  as 
by  "  Granny  "  he  meant  quite  another  person,  and  if 
ever  they  were  to  be  in  the  same  company  it  might 
make  confusion — "  I  hope  you  are  very  well  to-night. 
I'm  sorry  I've  not  got  anything  for  you,  but  I 


A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  239 

haven't  come  from  home.  I've  been  out  on  a  visit 
since  morning." 

Old  granny  blessed  his  little  heart  and  said  he 
was  welcome  whenever  he  came,  and  Curly  thanked 
her  very  much. 

"  I  haven't  much  time  to  stop  to-night,"  con- 
tinued the  child,  "  because  it's  past  tea-time,  and 
they  will  be  wondering  why  I  don't  come.  But  I 
thought  I'd  just  like  to  see  how  you  were  getting 
on.  You've  got  a  great  many  babies  all  about 
here,"  he  added,  plunging  suddenly  into  his  subject 
with  considerable  eagerness.  "  Will  you  take  them 
all  away  with  you  when  you  have  to  move  into 
the  caravan  ?  " 

"  I  suppose  there's  no  other  way,"  answered  the 
old  woman  in  a  discontented  voice.  "  I  always  do 
say  as  the  babbies  didn't  ought  to  be  brought  along, 
but  there's  no  way  out  of  it.  The  noise  we  have  of 
a  night  sometimes  is  awful.  I'd  be  glad  enough  to 
be  rid  of  half  of  them,  that  I  would." 

"Why  don't  you  sell  them?"  asked  Curly  with 
interest. 

The  old  woman  made  a  chuckling  noise  which 
was  equivalent  to  a  laugh. 

"  Nobody  wouldn't  buy  them,  little  master." 

"  Oh,  but  indeed  people  do  buy  them  sometimes," 
answered  Curly,  eagerly.  "  I  know  two  people  who 
bought  one  quite  a  little  while  ago.  It's  a  very 


240  A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

nice  baby,  but  I  don't  think  it's  so  pretty  as  those 
two,  they  have  such  bright  eyes  and  funny  faces." 

The  old  woman  stroked  her  chin  reflectively. 

"  Well,  I  have  heerd  tell  once  in  a  way  that  a 
babby  is  took  like  that.  Folks  as  wants  one  to  bring 
up  is  willing  to  give  some'at  to  the  parents  for 
giving  of  it  up,  but  such  chances  don't  come  in  the 
way  of  the  likes  of  us.  Why,  some  of  them  women 
would  be  thankful  to  be  rid  of  a  brat  or  two  to 
a  decent  home ; — but  there,  there,  nobody  as  ever 
adopts  a  stray  child  picks  it  out  of  a  tinker's  van. 
They  know  better  than  that — so  they  do." 

Curly  listened  eagerly.  It  was  not  very  easy  to 
understand  the  old  woman,  she  spoke  with  such  an 
odd  guttural  intonation ;  but  he  was  growing  used 
to  her,  and  could  understand  most  of  what  she  said. 
His  eyes  brightened  slowly. 

"  Do  you  mean  you  would  give  anybody  a  nice 
baby  or  two  who  would  be  kind  to  them  and  take 
care  of  them  ?  " 

"  I  reckon  as  many  of  them  mothers  would  be 
glad  enough  to  do  it ;  but  there  ain't  no  chance  of 
that  for  the  likes  of  they." 

Curly  would  have  liked  to  offer  to  take  half-a- 
dozen  on  the  spot ;  but  he  remembered  that  of 
course  he  must  consult  Bunny  first,  and  then  it 
would  be  only  fair  that  Bunny  should  help  in  the 
selection  of  this  new  kind  of  stock.  They  had  both 


A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  241 

been  there  to  choose  the  little  pigs,  and  it  would 
not  be  right  that  he  should  not  choose  the  babies 
too.  But  the  little  boy's  eyes  were  very  bright  as 
he  stood  before  old  granny,  twisting  his  cap  in  his 
hands  and  smiling  with  an  inward  delight. 

"What  do  babies  like  to  eat?"  he  asked  suddenly, 
rather  to  the  old  woman's  astonishment,  "  and  where 
do  they  sleep  at  night  ?  " 

"Oh,  they  just  crawls  into  the  huts  and  cuddles 
up  together  like' little  pigs  and  sleeps  all  night," 
answered  the  old  woman  rather  scornfully ;  "  we 
haven't  no  time  cockering  them  up.  They  eats 
what  they  can  get.  Milk's  their  right  food,  but 
nothing  comes  much  amiss  to  our  babbies." 

This  was  delightful ;  for  Curly  had  suddenly  had 
a  vision  of  how  Phyl's  baby  was  washed  and  put  to 
bed  in  a  beautiful  cradle.  Of  course  he  and  Bunny 
would  have  nothing  like  that  on  their  farm,  and  a 
sudden  misgiving  had  seized  him.  Now,  however, 
his  brow  cleared  and  he  felt  that  all  was  well.  The 
old  woman  was  muttering  to  herself, 

"  There  be  babbies  and  babbies  for  sure — like  as 
there  are  rich  folk  and  poor  folks  all  the  world  over. 
There  be  babbies  as  want  a  nurse  apiece  to  do  for 
them  ;  but  ours  ain't  like  that :  they  pretty  well  do 
for  theirselves  from  the  time  they  can  walk  alone. 
It  ain't  much  better  off  than  pigs  they  be — herded 
together  in  a  stye." 


242  A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

This  was  exceedingly  encouraging,  and  Curly's 
face  fairly  beamed  as  he  turned  to  resume  his  inter- 
rupted journey. 

"  Why,  it  couldn't  be  better!"  he  cried  to  himself. 
"  Babies  to  be  had  for  nothing — who  only  want  to 
live  in  a  nice  little  stye,  and  have  milk  and  perhaps 
a  little  barley-meal  to  eat.  And  Tor  says  they  are 
awfully  expensive  to  buy.  I  declare  !  Bunny  and  I 
will  make  our  fortunes  before  Tor  does  himself." 

And  Curly  on  his  return  home  dashed  up  to  the 
nursery  to  Bunny,  crying  eagerly, 

"  Oh,  Bunny,  listen  !  I've  found  out  a  way  to  do 
it.  We  can  have  as  many  'sponsibilities  as  we 
want  for  our  farm,  and  make  our  fortune  out  of 
them  too." 


CHAPTER  XIV 

BUNNY  didn't  quite  see  it.  Indeed  he  was  rather 
disappointing  to  his  ardent  younger  brother. 

"  I  don't  believe  people  ever  do  keep  babies  to 
sell.  I  never  heard  of  a  baby-farm  in  my  life." 

"  I'm  sure  I  have,"  answered  Curly ;  "  I  don't 
quite  know  when,  but  I  know  I  have.  Old  granny 
said  some  folks  bought  babies." 

Bunny  knitted  his  brows  and  remained  lost  in 
thought,  whilst  Curly  continued  to  urge  upon  him 
that  since  people  did  get  babies  they  must  buy 
them  somewhere,  and  that  Tor  had  said  they  were 
very  expensive  articles,  and  therefore  must  be  very 
profitable  to  people  who  could  get  them  for  the  ask- 
ing, and  then  fat  them  and  sell  them  to  desiring 
purchasers. 

"  It  doesn't  sound  quite  right,  somehow,"  said 
Bunny.  "  It  sounds  like  slaves — and  selling  slaves  is 
wicked.  I  don't  think  people  are  meant  to  buy  and 
sell  other  people." 

"  Babies  aren't  people,"  answered  Curly,  promptly 

243 


244  A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

and  rather  indignantly.    "  Why,  they're  sillier  than 
animals." 

"  They  grow  up  into  people  all  the  same,"  an- 
swered Bunny.  "You  wouldn't  have  liked  it  if  you'd 
been  sold  when  you  were  a  baby." 

"  I  should  if  Granny  had  bought  me,"  answered 
Curly,  stoutly,  "  and  I  dare  say  she'll  buy  our  babies 
if  we  get  them.  She  buys  our  eggs,  and  she  bought 
our  pig  too." 

"  That's  different." 

"Why?" 

"  Oh,  I  don't  know  if  I  can  explain — but  it  is.  But 
never  mind,  Curly,  we'll  think  about  the  babies  by- 
and-by.  I've  got  another  plan  in  my  head — and  it's 
a  plan  about  our  gipsy  people  too." 

"  How  funny !  When  did  you  think  of  it, 
Bunny?  " 

"  This  very  day,  when  you  were  out." 

"  Well,  that's  rather  funny — both  of  us  to  have 
a  plan  about  our  gipsies.  Tell  me  what  yours  is, 
Bunny.  But  I  think  I  shall  like  mine  best.  Is 
yours  profitable  ?  " 

"  Well,  no,  I  don't  think  it  is."  And  then,  as 
Curly's  face  fell  somewhat,  he  added  quickly, 
"  Unless  it  got  on  very  well  by-and-by,  and  we  had 
school-fees." 

Curly's  eyes  opened  wide. 

"  School-fees,  Bunny  ?     What  are  they  ?  " 


A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  245 

"  Why,  don't  you  know  ? — the  pence  the  children 
pay  for  being  taught  in  school." 

"  But  we  shouldn't  get  them,"  said  Curly,  per- 
plexed. 

"  We  might,  perhaps,  if  we  opened  a  school  of 
our  own." 

This  was  a  very  astonishing  idea  to  Curly,  but  it 
was  quite  interesting  to  think  of  anything  so  grand 
as  a  school  of  their  own.  Curly  sat  up  in  bed  nurs- 
ing his  knees,  and  staring  hard  at  Bunny. 

"What  do  you  mean,  Bunny?  Tell  me  some 
more.  How  could  we  have  a  school  ?  " 

"Well,  you  see  it's  something  like  this,  Curly: 
I've  been  talking  to  Watkins  and  to  Hannah  and 
to  Granny  about  responsibilities,  and  I  think  I 
begin  to  understand  what  they  are." 

"  They're  babies  for  one  thing,"  breathed  Curly, 
softly  ;  but  Bunny,  intent  on  his  own  thought,  went 
on  speaking : 

"  You  see,  it's  something  like  this :  everybody 
has  them  different,  and  often  they  change  about, 
and  that  makes  it  very  confusing.  But  if  people 
know  of  other  people  who  don't  know  anything, 
and  are  like  savages  and  heathens,  and  nobody 
isn't  doing  anything  to  teach  them  or  make  them 
better,  then  they  are  responsibilities,  and  the  people 
who  know  about  them  ought  to  try  and  teach  them 
themselves — or  have  a  Dame  to  do  it  for  them  if 


246  A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

they  are  rich  enough.  Granny  had  a  Dame  for 
hers  when  she  found  them  all  growing  up  without 
knowing  anything.  But  of  course  we  couldn't  man- 
age that,  because  a  Dame  has  to  be  paid,  and 
Watkins  doesn't  think  there  are  any  Dames  left — 
not  any  that  have  schools,  at  any  rate.  But  I  don't 
see  why  we  shouldn't  keep  school  ourselves,  for 
there  isn't  anybody  who  knows  about  the  gipsies 
or  cares  for  them  except  us — and  so  they  are 
our  responsibilities,  don't  you  see  ?  " 

Curly  drew  his  breath  hard.  He  was  not  sure 
that  he  did  see  ;  but  he  liked  the  idea  of  taking 
the  gipsy  children  under  their  own  care,  and  felt 
that  it  might  lead  to  the  adoption  of  his  own 
pet  scheme. 

"Do  you  think  you  could  teach,  Bunny?" 

"Yes,  I'm  almost  sure  I  could;  and  so  could  you 
too,  Curly.  You  can  ask  the  people  there  if  the 
children  know  anything:  but  I  don't  expect  they 
do,  and  everybody  ought  to  know  how  to  read  their 
Bibles,  and  to  write  a  few  lines  home  to  their 
mothers  if  they  went  away.  Granny  said  that  her 
own  self — and  Granny  always  knows." 

"  Of  course  she  does,"  assented  Curly,  heartily. 
"Well,  I  should  think  we  could  teach  the  children 
to  read.  We  can  both  read  ourselves,  and  you  can 
write  beautifully,  Bunny.  You  might  teach  them 
about  useful  things  like  leases  and  marriage-settle- 


A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  247 

ments — because  of  course  they  might  want  to  get 
settled  down  some  day,  though  old  granny  says 
they  always  wander  about  most  of  the  year  now. 
I  will  ask  her  if  they  would  like  a  school  for  the 
children.  If  they  would,  we  could  begin  it  directly 
you  can  go  out,  Bunny." 

"  Yes,  and  I  can  be  getting  things  ready  before- 
hand," answered  Bunny,  eagerly.  "  I  shall  print 
alphabets  upon  pieces  of  card-board,  so  that  every 
scholar  can  have  one,  and  I  might  do  a  few  easy 
texts  too,  because  you  know  we  must  try  and  teach 
them  out  of  the  Bible  if  they  don't  know  about 
it  themselves.  I  have  lots  of  time,  and  Granny  is 
very  kind  and  lets  me  have  almost  anything  I 
ask  for.  I  can  print  very  well — better  than  I  can 
write.  I  shall  ask  for  some  card-board  and  red 
ink.  Some  of  the  letters  shall  be  red  and  some 
black — it  will  make  it  more  amusing  for  them." 

Bunny's  dreams  that  night  were  all  of  educational 
schemes,  whilst  Curly 's  were  a  jumble  of  babies, 
copy-books,  and  Dames  with  big  birch-rods.  Both 
small  brothers  awoke  full  of  their  new  scheme  of 
taking  upon  their  small  shoulders  the  responsibili- 
ties of  educating  the  wild  gipsy  children,  as  they 
believed  them  to  be  ;  and  the  whole  of  their  spare 
time  was  taken  up  in  preparations  for  the  com- 
mencement of  the  undertaking. 

The  wind  had  veered  round  in  the  night  to  the 


248  A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

southwest,  and  had  brought  in  the  first  instance  tor- 
rents of  warm  rain  which  were  very  welcome  to  the 
farmers,  whose  land  had  been  parched  up  by  the  per- 
sistent north  and  easterly  breezes.  Even  Curly  did 
not  grumble  at  being  kept  at  home,  for  the  doctor 
had  said  that  Bunny  might  go  out  as  soon  as  the 
wind  got  round  to  that  warm  quarter,  and  there 
was  every  prospect  now  of  a  spell  of  genial  weather 
when  once  the  rain  should  have  done  its  work. 

The  whole  household  was  aware  that  the  little 
brothers  had  some  new  scheme  afoot,  so  eager  and 
absorbed  were  they  in  their  comfortable  nursery 
over  squares  of  card-board  and  mysterious  bottles  of 
coloured  ink.  However,  as  the  occupation  seemed 
of  a  perfectly  harmless  and  rather  edifying  char- 
acter, nobody  interfered  or  asked  questions,  and  in 
Curly's  subdued  air  of  importance  and  Bunny's  pre- 
ternatural gravity  those  who  knew  the  children  best 
read  the  fact  of  some  great  new  project,  which 
doubtless  in  due  time  would  be  revealed. 

Curly  watched  the  weather  rather  impatiently 
during  this  wet  week,  for  he  wanted  to  go  to  the 
old  quarry  and  consult  old  granny  about  this  new 
project.  However,  it  was  a  great  consolation  that 
between  showers,  when  the  sun  shone  out  warm  and 
bright,  though  often  not  for  long  together,  Granny 
would  send  a  message  that  the  children  might  take 
a  walk  up  and  down  the  wide  south  terrace  in  front 


A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  249 

of  the  house,  and  this  was  looked  upon  as  a  great 
privilege. 

Bunny  got  stronger  every  day,  and  was  soon  able 
to  race  Curly  from  end  to  end,  only  taking  a  little 
start,  as  Curly 's  legs  were  almost  longer  than  his 
own,  and  the  younger  boy  was  decidedly  the 
stronger  of  the  pair.  Granny  would  sometimes 
come  to  the  window  and  watch  them,  and  some- 
times she  would  walk  out  and  join  them  for  a  little 
while.  On  one  or  two  brighter  afternoons  she  drove 
both  the  children  out  in  the  carriage,  and  Bunny 
began  to  look  quite  his  old  self  again.  The  doctor 
ceased  to  pay  him  even  occasional  visits,  and  he 
was  allowed  by  degrees  to  resume  his  usual  habits. 
By  this  time  Easter  had  come  and  gone,  and,  as 
Bunny  remarked,  it  was  quite  time  to  think  of  be- 
ginning the  midsummer  term.  Curly  had  been 
hindered  for  a  good  many  days  from  visiting  his 
friends  at  the  quarry ;  but  shortly  after  Easter  he 
got  leave  to  ride  across  with  a  message  to  Phyl  from 
Granny,  and  on  the  return  journey  he  did  not  fail  to 
pay  a  visit  to  his  new  friends. 

The  place  looked  rather  better  than  before.  Dur- 
ing the  rainy  spell  some  of  the  men  had  come  back, 
and  had  patched  up  the  huts  and  made  them  weather- 
tight,  and  old  granny  told  Curly  that  she  thought 
some  of  the  women  and  children  would  stay  there 
the  best  part  of  the  summer  if  they  weren't  inter- 


250  A  PAIR  OF  ORIGINALS 

fered  with  by  the  local  authorities  (whatever  that 
might  mean) ;  for  her  part,  the  old  woman  said, 
she  would  be  glad  enough  to  bide  anywhere  where 
there  was  a  blue  sky  above  them  and  freedom  to 
come  and  go  at  will  without  all  the  discomforts  of 
the  caravan  ;  and  Curly  brightened  up  very  much  at 
hearing  this,  and  broached  to  his  old  friend  the  plan 
he  and  Bunny  had  so  carefully  concocted. 

Old  granny  did  not  take  the  idea  of  the  school 
quite  as  seriously  as  Curly  would  have  liked  to  see 
her.  She  seemed  rather  disposed  to  laugh  at  the 
notion  of  the  little  gentlemen  "  troubling  their- 
selves  over  the  likes  of  we,"  as  she  put  it ;  but 
Curly  explained  that  Bunny  had  discovered  that 
the  untaught  children  were  their  'sponsibilities,  and 
that  it  was  quite  needful  that  something  should 
be  done  to  mend  matters.  It  was  encouraging 
(from  Curly's  standpoint)  to  find  that  the  shock- 
headed  children  who  were  so  plentiful  in  the  colony 
were  almost  entirely  untaught.  Their  roving  life 
made  it  easy  for  the  parents  to  escape  any  kind 
of  oversight  or  legislation.  If  a  school-board  in- 
spector made  an  effort  to  capture  a  few  reluctant 
children  whilst  the  parents  were  located  in  a  town 
for  the  winter  months,  and  oblige  them  to  attend 
the  school  for  a  time,  there  was  speedy  escape 
when  the  summer  roving  began,  and  both  boys 
and  girls  appeared  to  have  a  singular  faculty  for 


A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  251 

forgetting  what  had  been  crammed  into  their  heads 
during  the  short  space  of  a  few  months.  Some- 
times no  notice  was  taken  of  the  tinker  folks,  and 
the  children  played  all  the  winter  in  the  gutters, 
only  adding  to  their  vocabulary  of  slang  and  bad 
language.  More  occasionally  some  hard-working 
and  devout  clergyman  would  stumble  across  these 
poor  degraded  creatures  and  strive  hard,  for  the 
time  they  remained  in  his  parish,  to  bring  them  to 
some  sort  of  knowledge  of  the  central  truths  of 
Christianity  ;  but  for  the  most  part  they  were  left 
very  much  to  themselves,  and  it  was  plain  to  Curly 
that  their  prospective  pupils  would  not  be  at  all 
beyond  them  in  the  matter  of  attainments,  though 
whether  they  might  not  be  too  much  for  their  in- 
structors in  another  sense  was  quite  a  different 
matter. 

Apparently  hitherto  the  very  thought  of  school- 
ing had  been  odious  to  the  young  of  the  com- 
munity, and  Curly,  after  listening  to  old  granny's 
account  of  the  way  in  which  the  boys  had  out- 
witted and  escaped  from  the  school-inspector  again 
and  again,  looked  a  little  dismayed. 

"  P'raps  they  won't  come  to  our  school,"  he  sug- 
gested. "  I  don't  think  we'd  thought  of  that." 

"  Oh,  bless  your  little  heart,  they'll  come  fast 
enough  to  you.  Why,  they  likes  a  bit  of  novelty, 
and  'twon't  be  like  as  if  it  will  be  real  schooling. 


252  A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

It  will  be  just  a  bit  of  fun  for  them,  and  maybe  it 
will  do  them  good — if  it  don't  do  you  no  harm." 

Curly  looked  rather  scandalised  at  this  light  way 
of  treating  so  serious  a  matter. 

"  It  will  be  a  real  school,"  he  answered  with 
dignity.  "  We  shall  be  quite  strict.  Our  Granny 
is  a  very  strict  woman,  and  we  mean  to  have  rules 
like  hers.  You  mustn't  make  them  think  it  is  to 
be  fun.  We  shall  teach  them  just  what  they  do  in 
schools — Dame's  schools,  you  know.  They  are  to 
read  their  Bibles  and  write  a  little.  Everybody 
ought  to  be  able  to  do  that,  Granny  says." 

A  softer  look  came  over  the  old  woman's  face. 

"Ay,  little  master,  'twould  be  a  good  thing  if 
some  on  us  could  read  the  Bible  now  and  then. 
When  I  was  young  I  had  a  good  mother.  I  used 
to  read  it  to  her  myself :  but  I  scarce  ever  think  of 
those  days  now.  It's  a  hard  life,  is  ours.  We  don't 
seem  to  have  no  time  for  anything  like  that." 

"  Bunny  would  read  to  you  sometimes,  I'm  sure, 
if  you  liked,"  said  Curly,  who  thought  the  old 
woman  looked  sorrowful.  "  He  reads  very  well — 
better  than  I  do.  But  I  could  teach  the  children. 
We  have  got  a  lot  of  alphabet-cards  printed  for 
them." 

"  Bless  your  little  heart,  you'll  soon  be  tired  of 
it ;  but  it  does  one  good  to  hear  folks  talking  as  if 
they  cared  for  the  likes  of  we.  Come  as  often  as 


A    PAIR    OF  ORIGINALS  253 

you  will,  little  master,  and  if  the  little  varmints  are 
obstreperous,  you  call  old  granny,  and  I'll  come 
out  and  take  the  stick  to  them." 

Curly,  however,  thought  they  would  be  able  to 
dispense  with  such  strong  measures,  and  went  out 
to  make  a  selection  of  scholars.  By  this  time  he 
was  a  well-known  and  popular  person  in  the  little 
colony ;  and  though  he  found  on  the  whole  that 
old  granny  was  the  most  satisfactory  person  to 
talk  to,  he  had  a  nodding  acquaintance  with  almost 
everybody  there,  and  knew  the  names  or  nicknames 
of  more  than  half  the  children. 

He  had  no  difficulty  in  getting  eager  assents  from 
as  many  as  he  asked  to  join  the  anticipated  school. 
One  or  two  bigger  boys  made  mouths  and  looked 
as  if  they  could  be  pretty  troublesome  if  the  fancy 
took  them  ;  but  they  were  amused  with  the  idea  of 
being  taught  out  here  in  the  old  quarry,  and  Curly 
found  what  seemed  to  be  a  very  desirable  school- 
room in  a  hollowed-out  place  something  like  a  cave, 
which  contained  a  number  of  scattered  blocks  of 
stone  of  various  sizes  that  would  do  for  seats  for 
the  scholars.  The  bigger  boys  promised  to  arrange 
these  blocks  into  something  like  regular  rows,  and 
the  wall  of  the  cavern  would  make  a  capital  black- 
board— "  only  that  it  was  white,"  as  he  afterwards 
explained  to  Bunny.  But  figures  could  be  drawn 
on  it  with  charcoal,  which  would  show  up  well,  and 


254  A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

Curly  felt  that  the  dignity  of  playing  schoolmaster 
would  be  very  delightful.  Of  course  Bunny  must 
be  the  head-master;  but  he  would  make  an  ener- 
'getic  assistant,  and  he  had  the  advantage  of  know- 
ing the  pupils  beforehand,  and  would  be  able  to 
call  them  to  order  with  a  great  show  of  authority. 

"We  shall  begin  on  Monday,"  he  remarked,  "at 
least  if  it  is  fine.  I  hope  you  will  have  everything 
ready,  and  be  very  good  and  attentive.  Perhaps 
if  you  are  all  very  good  some  of  you  shall  have 
a  prize  by-and-by ;  but  I  can't  be  quite  sure  of 
that,  because  we  mayn't  have  enough  money. 
Perhaps  Granny  will  give  us  some  when  she  knows 
of  our  school ;  but  it's  a  secret  now,  because  Bunny 
says  it's  better  not  to  trouble  other  people  with  our 
own  'sponsibilities — we  ought  to  do  them  our- 
selves. Granny  never  talks  to  us  about  hers,  so 
we  sha'n't  tell  her  about  ours." 

The  dark-skinned  children  stared  at  him  in  their 
wild,  uncouth  way,  but  made  no  remark.  They  all 
admired  the  bright-haired  little  boy,  who  had  once 
brought  them  a  packet  of  sugar-candy  to  be  divided 
amongst  them.  They  did  not  exactly  know  what 
he  meant  to  do  when  he  came  to  keep  school  there ; 
but  life  was  not  so  very  exciting  to  them  just  now 
but  that  any  variety  was  more  or  less  welcome. 

"  We'll  all  come,"  said  the  tallest  of  the  girls,  who 
had  a  bright,  intelligent  face  despite  her  tattered 


A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  255 

clothing  and  general  air  of  neglect.  "  I  did  once 
larn  my  letters,  and  could  read  words  that  were 
short  and  easy-like,  but  I've  mostly  forgot  them 
all  now." 

"  You'll  soon  remember  when  you  come  to  our 
school,"  answered  Curly  with  conscious  pride.  "  I'm 
glad  you  have  learnt  a  little  before ;  it  will  make  it 
come  easier.  You're  quite  big  enough  to  know  how 
to  read  and  write — it  seems  a  pity  you  can't." 

"  That's  what  Pat  is  always  sayin' — '  Sure  and 
you  moight  learn  aisy  if  you  would  but  try.'  It 
would  be  glad  as  he'd  be  if  I  could  read  a  bit  to 
him  of  a  winter  noight.  He's  rarely  fond  of  the 
words  of  the  Howly  Book,  as  he  calls  it,  is  Pat." 

The  girl  spoke  with  an  odd  mixture  of  Irish  and 
cockney  and  rustic  accent.  Her  bright  eyes  glowed 
and  sparkled,  and  Curly  lingered  for  a  little  conver- 
sation with  her.  He  was  the  more  interested  in 
her  because  she  was  the  eldest  of  the  brown- 
skinned  family  of  which  the  twins  were  the  young, 
est  members.  The  mother,  as  Curly  had  a  shrewd 
suspicion,  was  something  of  a  virago,  though  she 
had  not  exhibited  herself  in  that  light  before  him, 
and  at  least  this  girl  was  interesting  in  herself. 

"Who  is  Pat?"  he  asked. 

"  Sure  he's  me  big  brother — leastways  he's  me 
half-brother.  His  mother  is  dead,  and  mine  isn't; 
but  we've  got  the  same  father,  if  you  understand, 


256  A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

little  master."  Curly  nodded,  though  he  was  not 
quite  sure  if  he  grasped  the  actual  relationship. 
"  He's  a  good  lad,  is  Pat ;  but  mother  she  don't 
like  him  anigh  her,  and  so  he  goes  off  with  the  men. 
Faith,  thin,  but  granny  she  says  as  he  won't  be 
with  us  long.  He's  got  the  look  that  some  of  them 
gets  before  they  die,  and  he  says  himself  that  the 
howly  saints  will  take  him  away  before  long.  He'll 
be  proud  and  glad,  that  he  will,  if  I  can  read  to  him 
out  of  the  Blessed  Book,  for  sorra  a  word  can  he 
read  for  himself." 

Curly  looked  very  serious. 

"Is  Pat  a  Roman  Catholic?"  he  asked.  "I 
thought  Roman  Catholics  were  not  allowed  to 
read  the  Bible  for  themselves." 

"  Sure,  thin,  I  don't  rightly  know  how  that  may 
be,  nor  yet  what  Pat  is ;  but  he's  a  good  lad,  and 
last  winter  he  was  that  ill  they  took  him  to  the 
Infirmary,  and  there  was  a  good  man  there  called 
Chaplain  who  came  to  see  Pat  ivery  day,  and  talked 
to  him  and  made  him  very  happy.  I  don't  know 
nothing  about  what  folks  means  by  their  long 
words.  But  Pat's  a  good  lad,  and  I  doubt  the 
howly  saints  will  take  him  if  he  dies — though  I 
don't  know  nothing  about  them." 

Curly  rubbed  his  hand  through  his  hair  reflec- 
tively and  wondered  what  to  say.  He  thought  in 
the  end  that  he  would  let  matters  be  for  the 


A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  257 

present.  Bunny  was  older.  Bunny  would  be  able 
to  explain  better.  Curly 's  theology  was  in  a  rather 
chaotic  state,  and  he  hardly  knew  how  to  tackle 
such  obviously  great  ignorance.  He  had  a  strong 
idea  of  his  own  that  if  anybody  were  to  die,  it  would 
be  Jesus  into  whose  keeping  that  soul  would  pass, 
not  into  the  hands  of  any  saints,  however  holy ;  but 
he  did  not  feel  able  to  enter  upon  any  discussion  of 
the  point,  and  turned  the  subject  by  asking, 

"  Where  is  Pat  now  ?  " 

"  Along  of  the  men ;  but  there's  no  telling  when 
he  may  be  back.  If  he  falls  ill,  they  will  likely  send 
him  to  mother  to  be  took  care  of;  that's  what 
makes  her  so  mad — she  don't  like  taking  care  of 
Pat." 

"  I  don't  think  your  mother  is  a  very  nice  wo- 
man," said  Curly  with  characteristic  frankness. 

"  They  call  her  '  the  Tartar  ' — all  our  folks  do  ; 
but  I  ain't  much  afeard  on  her — not  much.  She 
don't  often  beat  me  ;  I'm  too  strong  for  her  and 
too  quick.  The  babbies  gets  it  worst,  'cause  when 
she's  in  a  rage  they  can't  get  out  of  her  way." 

Curly  looked  much  scandalised. 

"  Does  she  beat  those  little  brown  babies  ?  — 
doesn't  she  care  for  them,  then?" 

"  She  don't  like  the  trouble  of  them — sure  but 
a  pair  of  babbies  do  make  a  power  of  trouble  ;  and 
when  she  gets  mad  she  whacks  them,  and  they 


258  A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

yell  till  granny  comes  and  stops  her.  She  beat  me 
too  when  I  was  little,  but  I  can  run  away  mostly 
when  she's  in  one  of  her  big  rages." 

Curly  was  rather  horrified,  though  it  strength- 
ened his  certainty  about  the  desirability  of  taking 
possession  of  the  coveted  brown  babies.  Granny 
and  this  bright-eyed  girl  had  both  said  the  same 
on  the  subject.  But  he  felt  that  he  must  not  com- 
mit himself  yet  to  an  open  offer. 

"  What  is  your  name  ? "  he  asked  next. 

"  They  call  me  Mops,  but  my  real  name  is  Molly 
— Molly  Mavourneen,  Pat  calls  me,  and  father  too, 
sometimes,  when  he's  in  a  kind  mood.  But  often 
he's  in  liquor  and  only  curses  and  swears.  Pat 
never  swears  now :  he  says  it's  wicked.  Is  it  wicked, 
little  master  ?  " 

"  Why,  yes,"  answered  Curly,  slowly,  "  of  course 
it  is.  Everybody  knows  that.  There's  a  com- 
mandment about  it,  you  know.  It's  taking  God's 
name  in  vain." 

"  Who  is  God  ?  "  asked  Molly,  briskly. 

Curly  made  no  answer;  he  was  quite  too  much 
taken  aback  at  the  question.  Indeed  he  was  a 
good  deal  sobered  by.  the  glimpses  he  had  got 
during  these  few  minutes'  talk  with  Molly  of  a 
state  of  ignorance,  misery,  and  degradation  of 
which  he  had  had  no  idea  before.  Like  most 
intelligent  children,  he  was  very  sensitive  to  im- 


A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  259 

pressions,  and  could  apprehend  a  great  deal  he 
could  not  analyse  or  talk  about.  He  began  to 
feel  a  curious  sensation  of  heaviness  about  his 
heart.  He  wanted  to  get  out  of  this  place — to 
tell  Bunny  (it  would  be  hopeless  to  try  and 
speak  to  any  other  person  of  his  thoughts)  about 
it  all.  It  suddenly  seemed  to  Curly  as  if  this 
school  they  were  about  to  commence  would  be 
something  a  good  deal  more  serious  than  he  had 
fancied  at  first.  If  these  children  didn't  know 
who  God  was,  ought  not  that  to  be  explained  to 
them  first  of  all  ?  And  would  Bunny  be  able  to 
make  them  understand? 

Bunny  was  very  much  interested  by  all  that 
Curly  told  him  when  he  joined  his  brother  at  the 
tea-table.  Both  little  brothers  agreed  that  it  was 
very  dreadful  for  children  to  grow  up  so  ignorant, 
and,  as  Bunny  remarked,  it  certainly  added  to 
their  responsibilities  in  teaching  them.  They  cer- 
tainly must  be  made  to  understand  the  difference 
between  good  and  evil,  and  be  taught  who  God 
was,  though  Curly  remarked  with  a  sigh  that  he 
didn't  know  how  to  explain  that  sort  of  thing,  and 
wished  they  had  some  grown-up  person  to  help 
them — a  very  unusual  wish  for  the  independent 
Curly. 

"  We'll  try  first  by  ourselves,  Curly,"  answered 
Bunny,  "and  if  we  can't  manage,  we'll  tell  Granny 


260  A  PAIR  OF  ORIGINALS 

and  ask  her  to  help  us.  But  you  know  she  likes 
us  always  to  try  to  do  anything  alone  first ;  and 
I  think  we  might  manage  to  have  quite  a  nice 
little  school  of  our  own.  You  know  I  think  two 
of  us  ought  to  do  better  than  one  Dame.  Wat- 
kins  told  me  that  he  went  to  a  Dame's  school  once 
when  he  was  a  very  little  boy,  but  he  never  learnt 
anything.  They  used  to  tie  her  to  her  chair,  when 
she  wasn't  minding,  and  often  she  used  to  go  to 
sleep,  and  they  would  all  creep  out  of  the  room 
one  by  one  and  go  and  play  in  the  fields.  If  they 
asked  her  anything  she  didn't  know  (and  she  didn't 
know  much),  she  would  take  the  stick  to  them. 
I  think  we  could  keep  a  better  school  than  that." 

Curly  thought  so  too,  and  took  courage.  The 
momentary  sense  of  helplessness  and  depression 
quickly  passed,  and  he  was  as  ardent  as  Bunny 
in  plans  and  projects  for  the  mental  and  spirit- 
ual enlightenment  of  the  gipsy  children.  If 
earnestness  of  purpose  and  honest  good-will  could 
make  successful  such  an  undertaking,  Bunny  and 
Curly's  scheme  promised  well.  It  was  the  first 
thing  they  had  taken  up  that  was  not  to  be  done 
for  personal  amusement  and  advantage,  and  they 
felt  already  that  there  was  something  more  satis- 
factory in  working  and  thinking  for  others  than 
only  for  self. 

"  We    shall    be    able     to    go    on    Monday,    I'm 


A  PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  261 

almost  sure,"  said  Curly  on  the  Saturday  even- 
ing, looking  out  upon  the  sunny  world  with  a 
smile  of  satisfaction.  "  Hodges  says  that  the 
rooks  have  told  him  that  we  shall  have  a  fine 
warm  spell  now — and  the  ro<  ks  always  know,  he 
says ;  and  they  told  him  quite  right  before  the 
long  frost  came  in  the  winter,  because  he  told  us 
so  before  the  frost  came.  Ro'oks  must  be  very 
clever  birds,  I  think;  but  it's  quite  as  clever  of 
Hodges  to  understand  them.  I  can  only  hear 
them  say  '  Caw,  caw/  as  they  fly  about ;  but 
Hodges  understands  what  their  caws  mean,  and 
knows  if  it  will  be  fine  or  wet  by  the  way  they  go 
out  in  the  morning  from  their  rookery.  I  should 
like  to  know  that  kind  of  thing  when  I'm  a  man. 
I  think  Tor  does,  so  perhaps  I  shall  some  day,  for 
they  all  say  I'm  very  like  Tor." 

"  Well,  if  the  rooks  are  right,  we  can  go  and 
begin  school  to-morrow — I  mean  Monday,"  said 
Bunny.  "  I  should  like  some  day  to  have  a  Sun- 
day-school too — but  we  can't  begin  everything  at 
once.  Oh,  Curly,  I  do  hope  I  shall  make  a  good 
schoolmaster !  I  should  be  so  disappointed  if  I 
didn't." 


CHAPTER  XV 

THE  rooks  proved  true  prophets,  and  Monday  saw 
both  little  brothers  setting  off  for  the  old  quarry 
together,  their  heads  full  of  the  project  for  turn- 
ing the  wild  half-gipsy  children  of  Curly's  acquaint- 
ance into  model  scholars.  If  good-will  and  a  hearty 
interest  in  their  undertaking  could  have  ensured 
success,  that  success  should  have  been  a  brilliant 
one ;  but  the  little  fellows  were  destined  to  meet 
with  checks  of  which  in  their  sanguine  hopefulness 
they  had  never  dreamed. 

There  was  nothing  very  disappointing  the  first 
day,  save  that  Bunny  had  a  vague  misgiving  that 
everything  was  looked  upon  as  a  sort  of  new  game. 
There  was  a  keen  competition  for  the  possession 
of  the  alphabet-cards,  but  it  was  very  plain  that  they 
would  never  stand  a  week  of  the  handling  to  which 
they  were  immediately  subjected  by  their  unk&mpt 
and  unwashed  owners.  It  was  an  easy  thing  enough 
to  get  the  whole  "school"  to  roar  out  "A — B — C" 
after  the  youthful  master,  but  getting  the  major- 
ity of  the  pupils  to  care  one  atom  which  of  the 
262 


A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  263 

letters  belonged  to  its  name  was  quite  another 
matter.  Curly  was  fairly  well  satisfied,  and  dis- 
tributed barley-sugar  drops  at  the  close  of  the  hour 
with  an  air  of  approval ;  but  Bunny  had  sundry 
misgivings  which  he  tried  to  dismiss,  both  as  to  his 
own  capacities  as  a  teacher  and  the  class  of  pupils 
selected  on  which  to  exercise  his  untrained  powers. 

A  little  talk  with  the  intelligent  Molly  at  the  end, 
who  lingered  to  ask  for  more  detailed  instruction 
than  had  been  possible  in  the  class,  sent  Bunny 
home  encouraged ;  but  he  communicated  to  Curly 
his  fear  that  the  children  were  too  wild  and  un- 
taught to  be  much  good  as  pupils.  They  weren't 
a  bit  like  the  children  they  saw  in  the  school  when 
Granny  or  Phyl  took  them  to  pay  it  a  visit,  and  the 
mistresses  there  said  that  it  was  difficult  sometimes 
even  with  them  to  keep  order  or  make  them  attend. 

"  I  know  they're  not  a  bit  like  our  village  chil- 
dren," answered  Curly,  "  but  I  thought  because  they 
were  gipsies  and  didn't  know  anything  they  would 
be  all  the  gooder." 

"  Why  ?  "  asked  Bunny,  doubtfully. 

Curly  blushed  and  hesitated,  and  then  said  slowly, 

"  Why,  because  of  all  the  books,  you  know." 

"  What  books  ?  " 

"Oh,  you  know  the  books  that  have  stories  in 
them  about  poor  children — magazines,  I  think  Han- 
nah calls  them.  When  she  and  the  others  were 


264  A   PAIR  OF  ORIGINALS 

taking  care  of  you  when  you  were  ill  they  used  to 
bring  them  and  read  them,  and  often  I  found  the 
stories  and  read  them  too.  It  was  always  the  worst 
children  that  were  best — I  mean,  if  it  was  a  little 
boy  or  girl  who  had  never  been  taught  anything, 
and  hadn't  enough  to  eat,  and  everybody  belonging 
to  him  had  been  wicked,  he  was  sure  to  be  much 
the  goodest  in  the  end,  to  want  to  learn  and  to  like 
to  hear  about  good  things,  and  to  be  lots  better 
then  the  others  who  had  perhaps  been  brought  up 
in  a  proper  school  like  ours  in  the  village.  That's 
one  reason  why  I  thought  it  would  be  so  nice  to 
teach  the  gipsy  children.  I  thought  they'd  be  much 
nicer  than  the  village  children." 

Bunny  knitted  his  brows  in  perplexed  thought. 

"  I  read  some  of  the  stories  too.-  I  remember 
them  now.  Yes,  it  did  seem  as  if  the  worst  always 
turned  into  the  best  in  them.  And  in  missionary 
stories  the  little  heathens  and  savages  do  get  very 
good.  I  wonder  if  our  gipsy  children  will  ?  I  didn't 
think  of  it  like  that  before;  but  p'raps  they  will 
care  more  for  not  having  heard  much  about  things 
before." 

Bunny  put  it  vaguely,  for  he  was  not  quite  certain 
what  kind  of  "  things "  he  should  begin  to  teach. 
There  was  a  wide  field  before  him  when  his  pupils 
scarcely  knew  a  single  thing ;  but  the  very  wideness 
of  it  constituted  one  of  the  difficulties,  and  the  lack 


A  PAIR  OF  ORIGINALS  265 

of  attention  and  gravity  on  the  part  of  the  wild 
children  made  it  almost  impossible  to  open  or  close 
school,  as  he  had  intended  to  do,  by  reading  a  few 
verses  from  his  Testament  to  them.  He  felt  certain 
that  such  words  would  have  been  worse  than  wasted 
to-day,  and  he  had  refrained  from  the  attempt. 
Bunny  had  a  good  deal  of  reverence  in  his  nature, 
which  had  been  carefully  fostered  during  his  resi- 
dence under  his  grandmother's  roof.  He  did  not 
like  to  court  irreverence  in  others,  and  had  felt  that 
at  present  it  was  better  simply  to  stick  to  the  learn- 
ing of  the  alphabet.  If  once  his  pupils  arrived  at 
something  like  a  knowledge  of  their  letters  and 
could  begin  to  pick  out  words  for  themselves,  then 
it  might  be  easy  by  means  of  large-print  Testaments 
to  get  them  to  read  and  think  for  themselves,  and 
instil  a  little  knowledge  into  their  heads. 

Bunny  had  a  very  vague  idea  as  to  the  time  it 
took  to  learn  to  read.  He  and  Curly  had  learned  a 
long  time  ago,  and  very  quickly,  for  their  mother 
had  taken  the  greatest  pains  with  them  in  this 
matter.  Bunny  had  a  dim  hope  that  in  a  week  or 
two  he  should  begin  to  see  some  result  from  his 
teaching ;  but  experience  was  destined  to  show  him 
that  he  had  been  decidedly  over-sanguine  on  this 
point. 

Days  passed  by,  and  on  most  days  the  little 
brothers  plodded  off  to  the  quarry.  They  had  a 


266  A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

great  deal  of  liberty,  and  as  this  place  lay  in  the 
direct  route  between  Phyl's  house  and  the  Priory, 
some  errand  took  •  them  into  the  vicinity  almost 
daily,  even  when  they  had  not  intended  going. 

But  Bunny's  experience  of  schooling  was  very 
different  from  what  he  had  anticipated.  The 
children  soon  ceased  to  care  about  coming  when  the 
first  novelty  had  worn  off.  The  carefully-written 
cards  were  all  lost  or  torn  up  or  hopelessly  dirtied ; 
the  bigger  boys  would  make  mouths  and  openly 
deride  the  little  brothers  if  they  attempted  to  urge 
them  to  come  and  learn.  Old  granny  laughed,  and 
shook  her  head,  and  told  them  it  was  no  manner 
of  use  trying  to  knock  any  sense  into  the  heads  of 
the  "  little  varmints  ;  "  and  though  she  freely  offered 
to  "whack"  any  boy  who  was  rude  or  troublesome, 
her  assistance  went  no  farther  than  that. 

Curly  was  woefully  disappointed,  and  disposed  to 
give  everything  up  and  go  back  entirely  to  their 
own  pleasures  and  amusements  with  their  animals 
and  "  farm,"  but  Bunny  was  disposed  to  struggle  on 
against  all  difficulties. 

"  If  it  is  a  responsibility  of  ours — it  is,"  he  would 
say ;  "  and  Molly  and  Peter  would  be  sorry  if  we 
didn't  come  any  more." 

"  If  the  'sponsibilities  won't  do  anything  we  tell 
them,  and  won't  come  to  be  taught,  I  don't  see  that 
we  can  do  anything  with  them,"  answered  Curly. 


A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  267 

"  If  we'd  taken  the  brown  babies,  it  would  have 
been  much  nicer,  for  then  we  should  have  had  them 
at  home,  and  we  could  have  done  as  we  liked  with 
them  ;  but  it's  no  good  having  a  school  when  no- 
body comes  to  it.  I  think  I'll  write  a  story,  when 
I  grow  up,  to  say  that  it  isn't  any  good  pretend- 
ing these  sort  of  children  are  always  so  good  and 
so  nice.  They're  very  wicked,  and  they  don't  want 
to  learn  anything,  and  they  make  horrid  faces  and 
use  bad  words.  I  don't  think  Granny  would  like 
us  being  so  much  here  if  she  knew.  I  think  it's 
much  nicer  at  home." 

"  So  do  I,"  answered  Bunny  with  a  little  sigh  ; 
"  but  you  know  we  do  spend  most  of  our  time  at 
home,  Curly.  We  have  done  lots  of  things  there 
already.  It's  only  about  an  hour  that  we  come  out 
to  the  quarry,  and  Molly  and  Peter  do  get  on 
very  well.  They  would  miss  their  lessons  very 
much." 

"  Two  isn't  a  school — there  isn't  anything  for  me 
to  do,"  objected  Curly. 

"  Oh  yes,  there  is — you  help  a  great  deal :  you 
hear  them  read  when  I  am  setting  their  copies,  and 
you  read  to  them  too,  sometimes,  and  they  like  it 
very  much." 

"  But  it  didn't  ought  to  take  two  masters  to  teach 
two  children,"  answered  Curly,  who  was  in  a  per- 
verse mood  to-day.  "If  I  had  the  baby-farm  to 


268  A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

manage  whilst  you  did  the  teaching,  I  should  like 
it  much  better.  I  like  babies — 'specially  those  two 
brown  ones,  and  I'd  take  all  the  'sponsibility  of 
them  if  we  had  them.  Two  'sponsibilities  wouldn't 
be  a  bit  too  much  for  me  ;  and  you  could  have  the 
other  two — Molly  and  Peter." 

The  intelligence  and  thirst  for  knowledge  in 
Molly  and  Peter  formed  the  one  bright  spot  in 
Bunny's  life  just  now.  The  school  scheme  had 
proved  a  lamentable  failure — as  any  older  person 
would  have  foreseen  from  the  first ;  but  these  two 
children,  by  nature  keen  and  intelligent — children 
who  had  profited  from  time  to  time  on  former  oc- 
casions by  opportunities  of  obtaining  a  few  weeks 
or  months  of  schooling, — proved  the  bright  excep- 
tions to  the  rule,  and  were  quite  as  eager  to  learn 
as  Bunny  was  to  teach. 

Molly  had  set  her  heart  on  recovering  her  lost 
accomplishment  of  reading  before  Pat  returned,  so 
that  she  might  have  a  surprise  in  store  for  him. 
Peter,  who  was  Molly's  professed  friend  and  cham- 
pion in  the  camp,  was  a  boy  better  born  than 
some  of  his  comrades,  and  had  had  a  good  mother 
and  been  educated  with  tolerable  regularity  up 
till  the  time  of  her  death  (when  his  father  cast  in 
his  lot  with  the  travelling  tinkers),  so  that  learning 
came  pretty  easy  to  him,  and  he  had  sense  to 
know  that  it  might  be  of  great  advantage  to  him 


A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  269 

later  on  if  he  could  acquire  the  art  of  reading  and 
writing. 

Bunny  found  real  satisfaction  in  teaching  these 
pupils,  for  it  seemed  to  him  that  they  got  on  very 
fast — quite  as  fast  as  any  of  the  wonderful  children 
he  and  Curly  had  read  about  in  story-books.  As 
a  matter  of  fact,  when  knowledge  has  only  to  be 
recalled  to  memory  and  not  actually  instilled,  the 
task  of  the  teacher  is  wonderfully  lightened.  Molly 
and  Peter  had  both  been  able  to  read  at  an  earlier 
period  of  their  lives,  and  Peter  had  been  able  to 
write,  though  Molly  had  never  got  farther  than 
straight  strokes  and  pot-hooks.  Still  she  had  some 
notion  of  holding  a  pen,  and  some  of  the  most  diffi- 
cult rudiments  of  the  art  had  been  mastered.  Her 
delight  in  her  own  performances,  and  her  resolution 
to  catch  up  to  Peter,  acted  upon  her  like  a  goad, 
and  a  great  part  of  her  time  was  spent  in  trying  to 
form  letters  and  words  upon  the  soft  sand  which 
lay  about  the  base  of  the  quarry. 

But  what  really  pleased  Bunny  even  more  than 
this  was  the  eager  interest  taken  by  both  the 
pupils,  but  especially  by  Molly,  in  the  story  of  the 
New  Testament,  a  large-print  copy  of  which  he  had 
purchased  for  each  of  his  pupils. 

At  first  Bunny  had  been  terribly  scandalised  by 
the  apparently  hopeless  ignorance  of  the  pair;  but 
as  he  came  to  know  them  better,  he  discovered  that 


270  A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

this  seeming  ignorance  was  partly  due  to  the  lack 
of  the  power  of  expression,  partly  to  a  species  of 
shyness  and  diffidence  upon  their  part.  When  he 
began  to  tell  the  story  of  Christ's  life,  he  discovered 
that  some  few  leading  facts  in  the  history  were 
known  to  his  listeners,  and  even — though  very 
dimly — understood. 

Molly  said  that  Pat  had  told  them  most  of  what 
they  knew — she  talked  very  much  of  Pat  whenever 
any  sacred  subject  was  the  theme.  Pat  had  told 
them  the  story,  though  presumably  in  an  involved 
and  not  too  comprehensible  fashion.  Still  it  was 
something  that  they  knew  it  at  all ;  and  as  soon 
as  Molly  was  able  to  read  with  anything  like  ease, 
she  simply  devoured  her  one  book,  and  was  always 
coming  to  Bunny  to  explain  the  meaning  of  hard 
words  or  phrases.  Bunny  was  not  certain  that  she 
took  it  all  quite  seriously  enough.  It  was  not  that 
she  was  troubled  by  any  doubts — on  the  contrary,  she 
eagerly  assimilated  anything  that  was  told  her,  and 
seemed  to  think  that  the  very  fact  of  seeing  it  all 
down  in  a  printed  book  was  guarantee  sufficient  for 
anything.  But  her  way  of  talking  of  Christ  and  His 
disciples  and  His  words  and  works  upon  earth  was 
a  good  deal  more  free  and  easy  than  anything  to 
which  Bunny  had  been  accustomed ;  and  when  she 
proceeded  to  remark,  one  day,  that  "  Peter  was  a 
real  skunk  "  because  he  had  denied  the  Lord,  Bunny 


A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  271 

felt  rather  as  if  somebody  had  hit  him  in  the 
face. 

However,  he  had  the  sense  to  know  that  Molly 
could  not  be  expected  to  look  at  things  quite  as  he 
did  ;  and  certainly  discussing  the  holy  narrative  in 
the  matter-of-fact  way  in  which  Molly  and  Peter  did 
helped  Bunny  to  feel  its  reality  as  he  had  hardly 
done  before.  He  had  always  believed  everything 
because  everybody  did  believe  the  Bible,  but  it  had 
not  seemed  quite  as  real  as  what  he  read  in  history 
or  story-books ;  whilst  to  his  pupils  it  was  all  the 
history  and  story  they  had  ever  read,  and  every 
detail  was  as  real  to  them  as  if  they  had  seen  it 
all  with  their  own  eyes. 

Wherefore  Bunny  and  Curly  began  to  understand 
in  time  that  it  was  possible  to  learn  lessons  from 
the  poor  degraded  children  in  the  gipsy  camp,  and 
to  see  that  after  all  there  might  be  some  truth  and 
sense  in  the  stories  they  had  read  of  other  children 
in  like  case  ;  although  perhaps  there  are  rather  too 
many  of  such  stories  put  in  the  way  of  little  folks 
nowadays,  and  they  are  disposed  in  consequence  to 
take  rather  upside-down  views  of  the  world  and  its 
inhabitants. 

Then  the  children  had  plenty  of  natural  and 
ordinary  occupations  as  well,  and  the  quarry  and  its 
gipsy-like  people  only  occupied  a  small  part  of  their 
time.  Their  farm  and  their  pets  required  daily 


272  A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

supervision  at  this  time  of  year.  They  had  hens 
sitting  on  eggs,  young  chickens  just  out  of  the  shell 
who  wanted  daily  and  almost  hourly  care  as  to  feed- 
ing and  so  on,  whilst  Bunny  had  to  learn  to  ride  so 
as  to  be  equal  to  Curly  in  this  new  accomplishment, 
and  Phyl  and  Tor  often  had  them  across  to  the 
manor-house  to  spend  a  day,  where  the  baby 
proved  a  source  of  continual  interest,  especially  to 
Curly,  whose  mind  was  less  occupied  with  the 
"  responsibilities "  in  regard  to  Molly  and  Peter 
with  which  Bunny  sometimes  felt  himself  particu- 
larly concerned. 

The  children  kept  their  secret  about  these  people 
rather  from  the  natural  reticence  of  childhood  than 
from  any  particular  desire  after  secrecy.  They  felt 
that  they  had  made  a  considerable  failure,  and  that 
people  would  be  sure  to  laugh  at  them  if  they  heard 
the  whole  story.  Nobody  troubled  them  with 
many  questions  about  their  day's  work.  Granny 
liked  them  to  have  liberty,  and  the  genial  weather 
and  out-door  life  were  making  a  new  man  of  Bunny. 
If  the  boys  were  missing  from  the  Priory,  they  were 
supposed  to  be  at  the  manor-house  ;  and  Lady  Ches- 
terton had  wholesome  ideas  of  teaching  children  to 
be  moderately  independent,  and  saw  no  reason  to 
trouble  the  little  fellows  to  give  an  account  of  every 
hour  of  their  day.  She  was  satisfied  that  they  were 
diligent  in  their  self-imposed  duties  upon  their  little 


A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  273 

piece  of  land,  that  they  improved  themselves  in 
their  riding  and  driving,  and  were  kind  to  their 
creatures  and  interested  in  their  well-being.  More 
than  this  she  did  not  seek  to  know.  What  they 
chose  to  tell  her  she  listened  to  with  kindly  interest; 
what  they  kept  back  they  were  welcome  to  keep. 
All  that  had  been  demanded  of  them  was  to  keep 
out  of  conscious  mischief  and  wrong-doing :  and  by 
the  open  faces  and  fearless  looks  of  both  children, 
she  was  satisfied  that  this  rule  was  being  observed. 

"  Phyl,"  said  Curly  one  day,  rather  suddenly,  "  do 
you  like  your  baby  very  much?  " 

Phyl  was  sitting  under  one  of  the  big  trees  in  her 
garden,  and  Curly  was  squatting  on  the  ground 
beside  her.  He  had  walked  over  to  see  her,  and 
Bunny  was  to  follow  on  the  pony,  calling  upon  his 
pupils  as  he  did  so.  The  white  bundle  which 
went  by  the  name  of  the  baby  was  sprawling  upon 
the  grass  not  far  away.  It  was  perfect  summer 
weather,  and  people  were  talking  of  beginning  to 
cut  the  hay.  The  little  boys  were  looking  forward 
greatly  to  this  most  enchanting  season  of  the  year. 

"  Yes,  Curly,  I  like  him  very  much." 

"  As  much  as  you  expected  to  ?  " 

"Yes,  quite  as  much,  I  think." 

Curly  sat  ruminating  for  a  few  minutes,  and  then 
said  tentatively,  with  one  of  his  quick,  upward 
looks, 


274  A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

"  Don't  you  think  he'll  want  a  companion  when 
he  gets  a  little  bigger?  It  would  be  very  dull  to 
have  nobody  to  play  with." 

"Would  it  ?     Well,  perhaps  it  would." 

"  I'm  sure  it  would,  because  I've  tried.  It  was 
very  dull  when  Bunny  was  ill.  It  is  ever  so  much 
nicer  being  two  than  one.  I  don't  think  you'll 
make  him  happy  if  you  don't  give  him  a  compan- 
ion." 

Phyl  laughed  softly. 

"  Well,  we  must  think  about  it,  Curly." 

"  Yes,  you'd  better.  I  know  people  always  have 
to  think  about  it  before  they  buy  expensive  things ; 
but  I  expect  you'll  find  you'll  want  a  companion  for 
him — or  perhaps  two." 

Curly  put  out  this  gentle  feeler,  thinking  of  the 
two  nice  brown  babies  he  was  growing  so  fond  of. 
They  were  nice  little  fat,  merry  things — much  more 
amusing  and  pretty  (though  he  wouldn't  for  the 
world  vex  Phyl  by  saying  so)  than  the  plump  pink 
bundle  out  there. 

Curly  had  been  cultivating  those  babies  assidu- 
ously of  late.  He  hadn't  much  to  do  with  the 
schooling,  and  the  other  children  did  not  attract  him. 
The  boys  made  mouths  at  him  and  called  him 
"  A — B — C,"  and  Curly  had  an  objection  to  being 
ridiculed  which  most  children  share.  The  girls  were 
almost  ruder  than  the  boys,  and  they  all  used  bad 


A  PAIR  Of  ORIGINALS  275 

words  the  meaning  of  which  Curly  did  not  under- 
stand. He  had  once  asked  Hannah  what  "  Blast 
my  eyes  "  meant ;  but  she  had  been  so  shocked  at 
hearing  such  a  phrase  from  his  lips  that  he  had 
never  repeated  another,  and  tried  not  to  hear  them 
or  wonder  about  them. 

But  the  babies  could  not  talk,  and  there  were  no 
bad  words  to  be  heard  from  them.  They  knew  him 
quite  well,  and  would  laugh  and  coo  when  he  came, 
stretching  out  their  chubby  little  arms  and  pulling 
at  his  bright  hair  or  at  his  sailor-buttons,  and  mak- 
ing much  of  him  in  the  half-painful,  half-pleasant 
way  common  to  babies,  but  gradually  working  their 
way  into  the  very  warmest  place  in  Curly 's  warm 
little  heart. 

And  sometimes  as  he  had  sat  playing  with  them, 
rolling  them  gently  down  a  warm  grass  slope  and 
carrying  them  up  again  one  by  one  in  his  arms,  or 
sitting  in  the  shade  waiting  for  Bunny,  and  talking 
to  them  whilst  they  sat  meditatively  sucking  their 
thumbs,  it  had  occurred  to  Curly  with  more  and 
more  force  that  it  was  a  dreadful  pity  for  these  nice 
little  brown  babies,  who  were  quite  good  and  loving 
now,  to  grow  up  into  horrid,  rude  boys,  who  fought 
and  swore  at  one  another  and  would  not  learn  or 
be  good  or  care  for  anything  except  their  own  idle, 
mischievous  ways.  Something  of  the  deep  sym- 
pathy and  compassion  which  rises  up  at  times  in 


276  A  PAIR  of 

every  human  heart,  as  we  see  the  countless 
thousands  of  our  fellow-creatures  born  and  reared 
in  almost  hopeless  misery  and  degradation,  stirred 
in  a  vague  way  the  heart  of  the  little  boy.  He  felt 
as  though  it  would  be  such  a  great  thing  to  save 
only  these  two  babies  from  the  life  that  seemed 
to  lie  before  them,  and  yet  so  far  he  had  not  put 
the  thought  into  words  or  even  tried  to  com- 
municate it  to  Bunny.  It  was  easier  to  talk  to 
Phyl  than  to  anybody  else  about  babies. 

And  to-day  it  had  occurred  to  him,  if  only  Phyl 
would  take  them  and  let  them  be  brothers  to 
little  Tor,  how  nice  it  would  be  for  them  all.  Phyl 
would  make  them  so  happy,  and  Tor — big  Tor — 
was  always  so  kind  and  merry,  no  home  could  be 
nicer  than  this  one.  It  seemed  to  Curly  that  three 
little  boys  all  pretty  much  the  same  age  would  be 
quite  the  nicest  sort  of  family  to  have  ;  and  Curly 
felt  very  sure  that  he  could  have  these  brown  babies 
almost  for  the  asking,  and  if  Phyl  liked  them  very 
much,  he  would  give  them  to  her  for  nothing. 

Curly  had  achieved  an  unexpected  and  unlooked- 
for  triumph  in  a  partial  conquest  of  the  virago 
mother  of  the  brown  babies.  He  had  not  known 
that  she  observed  his  partiality  for  her  children,  and 
of  the  woman  herself  he  stood  in  considerable  awe. 
He  had  heard  from  Molly  of  her  prowess  with  the 
rod.  He  had  heard  that  she  had  been  known  to 


stand  up  against  the  men  of  the  company  and  fight 
them  like  a  fury  when  her  temper  was  up.  This 
had  made  him  keep  very  carefully  out  of  her  way, 
so  far  as  he  could  ;  but  little  by  little  she  had  come 
to  talk  to  him  and  to  notice  him,  and  certainly 
Curly  had  no  reason  to  complain  of  the  way  she 
treated  him.  She  spoke  better  than  old  granny, 
and  was  easier  to  understand.  Her  brown  face  was 
very  handsome,  and  when  she  did  smile,  Curly 
thought  she  looked  quite  pleasant,  though  her 
frown  was  a  very  ugly  one.  Yet  though  she  had 
spoken  quite  civilly  and  even  kindly  to  Curly,  he 
did  not  think  she  cared  much  for  the  brown  babies. 
She  had  almost  owned  once  to  him  that  they  were 
a  great  trouble  when  they  were  moving  about. 
There  were  plenty  of  other  children  without  them, 
even  at  her  house.  And  Molly  had  said  that  the 
babies  were  often  beaten  for  being  in  the  way. 

All  this  seemed  very  favourable  to  Curly 's  dawn- 
ing plan  of  making  them  over  to  Phyl.  As  he  sat 
looking  at  the  white  bundle  on  the  lawn,  the  whole 
plan  seemed  to  unfold  itself  before  him,  and  his 
eyes  glistened  brightly. 

It  would  be  Phyl's  birthday  soon.  Phyl  and  Tor 
had  birthdays  very  near  together,  and  kept  them  on 
the  same  day.  Curly  remembered  that  day  very 
well,  for  last  year  they  spent  it  at  the  manor-house, 
in  the  hay-fields,  and  they  had  been  asked  to  come 


278  A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

again  this  year  and  do  the  same.  There  would  be  a 
strawberry  tea  again,  no  doubt,  and  all  sorts  of  nice 
things.  Bunny  and  Curly  had  been  discussing  what 
they  should  give  to  their  big  brother  and  Phyl  for  a 
birthday  present,  but  now  Curly  saw  it  all :  they 
would  give  them  the  brown  babies,  and  it  should 
be  a  surprise — even  Granny  should  know  nothing 
at  all  about  it.  They  would  get  the  babies  over  a 
day  or  two  before,  and  keep  them  in  the  hut  and 
feed  them  on  milk  and  soft  biscuit,  and  let  them 
play  in  the  sun  just  as  they  did  at  the  quarry;  and 
then  on  the  right  day  they  should  be  wrapped  up 
into  big  bundles  and  driven  over  in  the  pony-cart, 
and  there  would  be  one  for  Phyl  and  one  for  Tor — 
and  it  would  be  the  most  delightful  surprise. 

Bunny  had  not  cared  much  about  having  a  baby- 
farm,  and  Curly  had  ceased  lately  to  talk  about  it ; 
but  this  idea  could  not  but  delight  him,  it  was  so 
obviously  the  best  thing  for  everybody.  Phyl  and 
Tor  would  soon  want  playfellows  for  their  baby, 
only  Tor  would  think  it  too  expensive  to  buy  any 
more  :  but  to  have  them  for  a  birthday  present 
would  be  such  a  surprise.  Curly  almost  laughed 
aloud  as  he  thought  of  it.  He  lifted  his  bright 
face  to  Phyl  and  said, 

"  I  think  you  are  very  fond  of  babies,  aren't  you  ?  " 
"  Well,  I  think  I  am.     I  used  not  to  care  much 
for  them,  but  I  have  learnt  better  now." 


A   PAIR   Of  ORIGINALS  279 

"  And  Tor  is  fond  of  them  too  ? " 

Phyl  laughed  again,  that  happy  little  laugh  of 
hers  that  Curly  liked  to  hear,  without  knowing  why. 

"  Tor  is  ridiculously  fond  of  his  own — which  is  as 
much  as  can  be  expected  of  him,  I  think." 

And  Curly  nodded  his  head  and  felt  completely 
satisfied. 

"  It  will  be  just  the  very  thing,"  he  said  to  him- 
self, drawing  a  deep  breath  of  satisfaction.  "  I 
wonder  I  did  not  think  of  it  before.  I  must  talk 
to  Bunny  about  it  this  very  night.  I'm  sure  he 
must  like  this  plan." 


CHAPTER    XVI 

"  PAT  has  come  back  !  Pat  has  come  back ! " 

These  words  were  breathlessly  uttered  by  Molly 
as  she  sped  through  the  wood  towards  the  two 
little  brothers,  who  were  paying  one  of  their  fre- 
quent visits  to  their  pupils.  The  brown-faced  girl 
had  plainly  been  on  the  watch  for  them,  and  as  soon 
as  she  had  heard  the  sound  of  approaching  voices, 
she  came  speeding  along  at  full  tilt,  shouting  out 
this  piece  of  news  with  great  eagerness. 

"  Pat  has  come  back — he  is  at  the  huts  now." 

Bunny  was  quite  interested  to  hear  this.  He  had 
always  thought  he  should  like  the  Pat  of  whom 
Molly  was  so  fond  of  talking,  and  the  girl's  own  ex- 
citement was  infectious,  too. 

"When  did  he  come?"  asked  both  the  little 
brothers  in  a  breath. 

"Last  night." 

"  What  made  him  come  ?  " 

"  He  was  took  ill  in  the  hay-fields,  and  nobody 

wouldn't  keep  him,  so  father  brought  him  back  in 

280 


A    PAIR   Of  ORIGINALS  281 

a  cart ;  but  he  went  off  hisself  this  morning  before 
it  was  fair  light.  Sure  but  I'm  afraid  it's  ill  that  Pat 
is ;  but  I'll  take  care  of  him  and  make  him  well,  if  I 
can." 

"What  does  your  mother  say  about  it?"  asked 
Curly,  shrewdly,  for  he  knew  something  of  the  repu- 
tation of  the  virago.  t 

Molly's  expressive  face  changed  quickly. 

"Mother?  Oh,  she  will  have  naught  to  say  to 
him.  She  will  not  have  him  in  our  hut.  She  says 
he  may  bring  the  fever  with  him  and  give  it  to 
us  all.  So  he's  gone  to  old  granny's — to  that  little 
back  place  behind  her  hut.  Granny  is  better  to 
him  than  mother.  Maybe  she  will  look  after  him 
of  a  night  if  he  wants  anything,  and  I  can  take  care 
of  him  by  day.  Sure  but  it  will  be  pleased  to 
see  you  that  he'll  be.  His  face  smiled  all  over  this 
mornin'  when  I  read  him  some  of  the  verses  out  of 
my  book." 

"  I'll  come  and  see  him  directly,"  said  Bunny, 
greatly  interested  ;  "  I'll  read  to  him  too,  if  he  would 
like." 

"  Faith  but  he  would  like  it  an'  no  mistake,"  an- 
swered Molly,  her  eyes  all  aglow.  "  He  got  me  to 
leave  the  Howly  Book  with  him — not  as  he  can  read 
himself  scarce  a  word,  but  he  liked  to  feel  it  near 
him,  he  did." 

"  I  know  that  feeling,"  answered  Bunny,  with  a 


2&2  A  PAIR  OF  ORIGINALS 

thoughtful  look.  "  I  liked  my  books  near  me  when 
I  was  ill,  when  I  couldn't  read  them." 

"Is  Pat  very  good?"  asked  Curly,  gravely;  and 
Molly  nodded  her  head,  whilst  something  of  wistful- 
ness  crept  into  her  eyes. 

"  Sure  and  I  think  he's  the  best  boy  as  ever  drew 
breath — saving  your  honours'  s.elves,"  she  answered. 
"  He's  not  a  bit  like  the  rest  of  the  boys,  an'  they  all 
laugh  at  him  and  call  him  names ;  but  he's  a  hundred 
times  better  than  they  are — you'll  see  that  your- 
selves, I'll  warrant." 

All  this  while  the  three  children  were  walking 
towards  the  quarry,  and  soon  the  hot  sunshine 
glinted  in  through  the  tall  pine-stems,  showing  that 
the  clearing  was  at  hand. 

Granny's  hut  was  rather  better  than  some  of  the 
others,  and  had  an  offshoot  in  the  form  of  a  rough 
lean-to,  in  which  in  the  days  of  the  quarry-men  wood 
or  coal  might  have  been  stored.  It  was  a  rickety 
place  at  best,  and  there  were  great  seams  in  the  roof 
through  which  the  light  glinted  through  ;  but  in  this 
hot  weather  these  dilapidated  conditions  were  of 
small  consequence,  and  the  fact  that  the  place  had 
no  door  seemed  rather  an  advantage  than  otherwise. 
Molly  eagerly  led  the  way,  and  the  little  brothers 
followed.  There,  sure  enough,  lying  on  an  old 
straw  mattress  in  most  dilapidated  condition,  with 
a  bundle  of  fern  beneath  his  head,  lay  the  stranger 


A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  283 

brother  whom  they  had  come  to  see — a  tall,  gaunt, 
emaciated  figure  with  hollow,  sunken  features  and 
white,  wasted  hands.  It  hardly  needed  an  experi- 
enced eye  to  see  that  the  youth  was  stricken  for 
death.  Bunny  stopped  short  in  dismay,  not  certain 
if  the  closed  eyelids  would  ever  raise  themselves 
again,  whilst  Curly  surveyed  the  prostrate  figure 
with  grave  concern,  and  then  turned  to  Molly,  say- 
ing in  a  tone  of  remonstrance, 

"  He  looks  a  lot  iller  than  Bunny  ever  did.  You 
ought  to  go  and  get  a  doctor  for  him." 

But  the  sound  of  voices — soft  voices,  not  those  of 
the  rude  boys  and  squalling  children  playing  outside 
— roused  the  patient  from  his  semi-slumber,  and  his 
eyes  flashed  open  at  once.  Then  his  face  changed 
and  brightened,  and  the  lad  made  an  effort  to  sit 
up,  smiling  at  the  small  intruders  with  that  flashing 
bright  smile  which  Molly  shared  with  him,  as  he  said 
in  very  Irish  accent, 

"  The  top  of  the  morning  to  you,  little  masters. 
Sure  these  must  be  the  blessed  children  you  told  me 
about,  Molly  Mavourneen.' 

"  Yes ;  they've  come  to  see  you,  Pat.  I  told  you 
they  would  come — I  knew  they  would.  And  they 
can  teach  you  to  read  out  of  the  Blessed  Book, 
if  you  like.  They  taught  Peter  and  me  very 
quick." 

"  Faith  it's  too  late  for  myself  to  learn  now,"  said 


284  A   PAIR  OF  ORIGINALS 

Pat,  sinking  back  upon  his  rude  pillow  with  an  air  of 
exhaustion ;  "  but  I'd  be  proud  and  happy  to  hear 
the  blessed  words  read  to  me.  They  go  out  of  my 
head  so  fast,  and  there  isn't  anybody  now  to  tell 
me  them." 

"  I'll  read  to  you  as  much  as  you  like,"  answered 
Bunny.  "  I'm  sorry  you're  so  ill,  Pat.  Have  you 
ever  seen  a  doctor?" 

"  Sure  and  I  have — and  many  of  them,  too  ;  but 
it's  nothing  that  the  doctors  can  do  for  me.  It's 
the  consumption  that  has  got  hold  on  me,  and  they 
can't  cure  that,  not  the  very  best  of  them.  I've 
been  in  good  places  before  now,  and  rarely  good 
folks  have  been  to  me ;  but,  bedad,  to  cure  me  is 
more  than  they  can  do,  even  the  best  of  them.  And 
it's  glad  I  am  that  they  can't.  I'd  sooner  be  gone, 
now,  than  stay,  and  that's  the  truth." 

"  Pat,  Pat,  don't  say  that ! "  cried  Molly,  throwing 
herself  down  beside  him  and  taking  his  wasted  hand 
in  hers.  "  I'd  made  such  plans  for  us  to  be  happy 
together.  What  will  I  do  if  you  go  away  and  leave 
me  ?" 

Pat  touched  her  head  with  his  thin  fingers. 

"  Sure  ye'll  be  betther  off  without  me  than  with 
me,  acushla ;  it's  only  a  trouble  and  a  bother  that  I 
am.  I  thought  maybe  with  the  warm  weather  I'd 
be  able  to  do  a  bit  of  work  and  make  a  matter 
of  money  to  please  your  mother.  But  it's  little  I 


A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  285 

can  do  at  all  at  all,  and  the  hay-field  did  for  me 
entirely." 

"  But  sure  you  needn't  go  and  die,  Pat,"  cried 
Molly  in  an  accent  that  was  half  pleading,  half 
coaxing;  "  I'll  nurse  ye  and  make  ye  well  again,  and 
we  might  go  away  together  then,  and  keep  house 
for  one  another." 

"  I'd  not  be  much  good  at  that,  Molly,  me  darlint. 
'Tis  better  as  it  is.  The  blessed  saints  will  maybe 
speak  for  me,  and  it  won't  be  long  before  I'm  took 
safe  home.  I'd  rather  be  there,  where  I  can  rest. 
I'm  so  very  tired  with  all  the  trouble  and  the 
burden." 

As  he  spoke,  he  put  out  his  hand  and  touched  the 
little  book  which  Molly  had  left  with  him  on  the 
coverlet. 

"  It's  all  in  there — about  the  blessed  city  and  the 
gold  and  the  pearl.  I'm  afraid  to  think  about  being 
took  in  there — it's  too  beautiful  for  the  likes  of  me; 
but  sure  there  might  be  some  little  quiet  corner, 
somewhere  far  away,  where  I  might  lay  me  down 
and  rest.  The  holy  saints  and  the  Blessed  Virgin 
maybe  will  speak  a  word  for  me.  I'm  a  poor,  igno- 
rant boy,  that  I  am  ;  but  they  was  once  poor  them- 
selves, some  of  them,  so  maybe  they  will  under 
stand." 

Bunny  sat  down  on  the  edge  of  the  bed,  looking 
very  grave ;  whilst  Curly,  who  felt  the  conversation 


286  A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

getting  a  little  beyond  him,  stole  quietly  off  to  im- 
prove his  acquaintance  with  the  brown  babies. 
Bunny  got  the  Testament  into  his  own  hands,  and 
looking  full  at  Pat,  he  said, 

"  There  isn't  anybody  that  understands  so  well  as 
Jesus  Himself,  Pat — that's  partly  why  He  came  to 
live  here :  for  He  did  live  as  well  as  die  for  us.  I 
don't  know  much  about  the  saints,  except  that  they 
were  very  good  and  holy  men  ;  but  it  isn't  to  them 
that  we  need  pray.  Don't  you  know  that  God  is 
our  Father,  and  that  He  wants  us  to  come  to  Him 
through  His  Son — that's  Jesus — not  by  any  other 
way  ?  There  isn't  really  any  6ther  way — only  that 
one.  And  Jesus  understands  much  better  than  they 
could  ;  I'm  quite  sure  of  that." 

Pat's  eyes  were  very  bright  and  eager. 

"  Sure  and  so  I  have  heard  good  folks  say,  and  it 
is  blessed  news  if  it  be  so.  The  good  Chaplain  in 
the  hospital,  he  put  it  all  as  plain  as  could  be ;  and 
there  it  all  was  in  the  Holy  Book,  as  plain  as  poor 
folks  could  wish.  But  when  my  head  gets  weak  I 
can't  seem  to  lay  hold  on  it ;  and  then  I  think  of 
what  I  used  to  hear  in  the  ould  country  about  the 
blessed  saints  and  the  Holy  Virgin.  But  faith  it's 
better  to  go  to  the  Lord  Himself,  if  one  can  be  sure 
that  He  hears  us." 

"He  always  hears  us,"  answered  Bunny,  gravely; 
"  I'm  quite  sure  of  that.  I'll  find  you  some  places 


A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  287 

about  it.  I'm  not  very  clever  at  finding  places,  but 
I'm  sure  I  can  find  some." 

"  Blessings  on  your  head  ! "  murmured  the  warm- 
hearted Irish  lad,  as  he  lay  gazing  eagerly  at  his 
small  visitor.  "  Sure  I  might  know  that  somebody 
hears  us,  for  I  was  asking  all  these  past  days  for 
somebody  to  read  to  me  and  mind  me  of  what  I'd 
forgotten." 

Bunny  was  a  very  good  reader,  and  he  was 
tolerably  well  acquainted  with  the  various  Gospel 
narratives.  He  was  able  without  much  difficulty  to 
find  the  various  pasages  which  Pat  asked  for — the 
stories  of  the  prodigal  son  or  lost  sheep,  and  that 
other  story  of  the  Passion  and  death  of  the  Lord. 

Pat  lay  breathing  heavily  and  with  some  diffi- 
culty, but  bright-eyed  and  keenly  attentive.  He 
asked  many  questions,  which  led  to  discussions  such 
as  Bunny  loved,  and  in  which  he  bore  out  his 
character  of  teacher  with  great  credit.  He  was 
never  afraid  or  ashamed  to  say  he  did  not  know  if 
he  found  himself  out  of  his  depth  ;  but  during  these 
past  two  years  he  had  been  carefully  though 
unostentatiously  taught,  and  Pat's  questions  were 
generally  of  the  simplest. 

The  Irish  lad  had  all  the  devoutness  and  eager 
faith  of  his  race,  and  was  untrammelled  by  any  diffi- 
culties as  to  differences  of  creed.  In  his  early  life  he 
had  been  under  Roman  Catholic  influences,  but  had 


288  A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

imbibed  little  beyond  a  deeper  reverence  for  holy 
things  than  is  usually  found  amongst  those  of  his 
class  in  England.  During  later  years  such  teaching 
as  he  had  received  at  all  had  been  from  the  chap- 
lains of  hospitals  or  infirmaries,  and  from  them  he 
had  learned  to  trust  himself  to  Christ  without  the 
mediation  of  any  other  saint  however  holy:  only 
that,  as  his  mind  grew  feeble  with  the  wasting  of  his 
body,  the  old  beliefs  and  traditions  would  assert 
themselves  and  leave  him  a  trifle  uncertain  and 
hazy.  But  Bunny  had  no  deeply-rooted  convictions 
on  such  points  to  cope  with,  and  no  subtle  forms  of 
doubt  to  encounter.  Pat  was  just  thirsty  for  all  he 
could  get  of  the  Holy  Book,  delighting  in  hearing 
familiar  passages  again,  and  keenly  attentive  when 
anything  new  was  being  told  him. 

Bunny  came  every  day  to  see  his  new  charge, 
generally  carrying  a  basket  containing  soup  or  jelly 
or  some  nourishing  dainty  for  the  invalid,  which  did 
much  to  keep  alive  that  flickering  flame  of  life.  It 
was  easy  to  get  some  such  delicacy  from  Granny's 
kitchen  when  it  was  for  a  sick  person.  Granny  had 
so  many  sick  folks  on  her  visiting-list  that  Cookie 
asked  no  questions  of  the  little  boys  when  they 
came  stealing  into  her  hospitable  regions  with  some 
modest  demand.  They  had  good  things  of  their 
own,  too,  which  they  could  often  spare  to  give 
away :  and  Pat  declared  that  it  was  better  than  any 


A   PA  IK   OF  ORIGINALS  289 

hospital  he  had  ever  been  in  ;  for  he  loved  the  fresh 
air  of  the  pine  wood  and  the  sight  of  the  sunshine 
streaming  in  at  the  open  door,  whilst  he  had  as 
many  dainties  to  eat  as  ever  his  feeble  appetite 
craved,  as  well  as  Molly  to  perform  any  little  loving 
offices  of  nurse,  and  daily  visits  from  the  little  gen- 
tlemen, who  were  already  regarded  with  a  species 
of  reverential  love. 

Bunny  spent  his  leisure  evening-time  in  printing 
texts  on  large  pieces  of  card-board,  and  pinning 
them  up  where  Pat  could  see  them.  The  texts  were 
done  with  a  brush  in  bright  colours  and  large  letters 
all  capitals ;  and  when  they  had  once  been  read  over 
to  him,  Pat  could  spell  them  through  to  himself  as 
he  lay.  And  great  was  his  delight  as  the  rude  little 
shanty  where  he  lay  became  gradually  covered  with 
"  blessed  words,"  which  caught  his  eye  whichever 
way  he  turned  them.  He  did  not  know  how  to  be 
proud  enough  of  the  appearance  his  room  pre- 
sented. 

"  Sure  and  it's  a  palace  ye'll  make  of  it  entirely," 
he  said,  as  an  unusually  brilliant  specimen  of 
Bunny's  manufacture  went  up  one  day.  "  I'll 
scarce  know  meself  soon,  I'll  be  so  smartened  up 
and  fine." 

For  an  old  dressing-jacket  had  been  begged  of 
Hannah,  one  day,  by  the  little  brothers,  for  "  a  nice 
boy  they  went  to  see  sometimes ;  "  and  as  Molly 


290  A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

had  begun  to  keep  her  own  hair  and  his  in  a  much 
tidier  state,  it  was  small  wonder  that  Pat  felt  him- 
self uplifted  both  physically  and  mentally. 

Bunny  began  to  entertain  hopes  that  he  might 
get  better.  He  was  growing  used  to  his  gaunt 
thinness  and  emaciation,  and  the  nourishing  food 
was  having  some  effect  in  bringing  a  look  of  greater 
strength  to  the  wan  face.  Molly  was  very  hopeful 
about  her  brother,  though  Pat  never  talked  about 
going  anywhere  but  "  home."  Bunny  was  not 
altogether  sure  that  it  would  be  an  advantage  to 
him  to  get  well  any  more.  They  talked  and  read 
so  much  about  the  golden  city  and  its  many  man- 
sions that  Bunny  began  to  realise  its  glories  and 
happiness  in  a  way  that  was  quite  new ;  and  he 
rather  in  his  heart  agreed  with  Pat  that  it  would 
be  a  happier  thing  to  go  there  than  to  awake  to 
the  old  life  of  hardship  and  sickness  and  want. 

Whilst  serious  thoughts  such  as  these  were  exer- 
cising Bunny's  mind  and  developing  him  in  one 
direction,  Curly  was  still  as  full  as  ever  of  his  plan 
of  rescuing  the  brown  babies  from  their  present 
life  of  poverty  and  hardship,  and  making  them  over 
to  Tor  and  Phyl  as  the  most  acceptable  of  birth- 
day presents  that  could  be  devised.  Something  of 
the  seriousness  which  had  come  over  Bunny  had 
reflected  itself  in  the  mind  of  his  little  brother. 
Culry  did  not  enter  so  much  as  Bunny  did  into  Pat's 


A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINAL'S  S01 

feelings  and  his  state  of  mind,  but  he  did  begin 
to  realise  that  there  were  people  who  lived  very 
wretched  lives — lives  that  seemed  to  make  them 
ignorant  and  wicked  :  and  there  was  something 
deeper  than  the  mere  desire  to  give  his  big  brother 
and  Phyl  a  surprise  in  his  increasing  desire  to 
become  the  proud  possessor  of  the  brown  babies. 

He  began  in  a  very  guarded  way  to  unfold  his 
plan  to  Bunny,  not  very  confident  at  first  how  it 
would  be  received.  Bunny  just  at  this  time  was  a 
good  deal  absorbed,  and  his  thoughts  were  greatly 
engrossed  with  Pat,  so  that  there  were  moments 
when  Curly's  words  fell  on  inattentive  ears,  and 
when  the  two  little  brothers  were  talking  at  cross- 
purposes.  It  was  so  the  first  time  Curly  ventured 
to  broach  the  subject,  for  ever  since  Bunny  had 
discountenanced  the  idea  of  a  baby-farm,  Curly 
had  been  more  cautious  how  he  spoke  of  babies. 
But  time  was  getting  on.  The  birthday  was  draw- 
ing near.  They  had  already  been  lamenting  the 
lack  of  funds  for  buying  a  nice  present  (for  their 
farm  and  their  patient  together  made  large  inroads 
upon  their  money),  and  wondered  if  Phyl  or  Tor 
would  expect  anything  of  them. 

Bunny  was  painting  another  of  his  card-texts, 
and  Curly  was  rubbing  his  colours  for  him.  After 
a  considerable  pause  of  silence,  the  younger  boy 
remarked, 


*92  ^  PAIR  OF  ORIGINALS 

"  Bunny,  I  don't  think  it's  half  such  a  nice  thing 
to  be  a  gipsy  as  I  did  at  first." 

"  No  ;  and  I  don't  either." 

"  It  seems  as  if  it  made  people  wicked— I  mean, 
as  if  they  mostly  did  grow  up  wicked." 

Bunny  shook  his  head  gravely. 

"  That's  just  what  Pat  says.  He  says  when 
they  began  travelling  about  with  other  men  he 
got  to  use  bad  words  directly.  He  says  it  is  a 
bad  life.  I'm  afraid  it  is,  though  it  hasn't  made 
him  bad." 

"  He  says  he  has  been  bad,  you  know,"  remarked 
Curly. 

"  Yes,  and  I  suppose  he  knows  best.  I  know  he 
doesn't  want  to  get  better.  He  thinks  it's  best  to 
die." 

Curly  drew  his  breath  hard,  as  was  his  way  when 
he  was  thinking  at  all  earnestly. 

"  If  he  could  get  better,  but  be  taken  away  to 
some  nice  place  to  live,  that  would  be  better  still, 
I  think." 

"  I'm  afraid  he  would  have  no  nice  place  to  go 
to." 

"  No  ;  but  if  he  had,  it  would  be  better  ?  " 

"  Yes,  I  suppose  it  would  ;  but  I  don't  know  if 
he'd  think  any  place  so  good  as  heaven." 

"  P'raps  not ;  but  they  can't  all  die  directly  and 
go  there,"  said  Curly,  resting  his  chin  in  the  palm 


A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  293 

of  his  hand  and  watching  Bunny's  brush.  "  It 
would  be  better  for  the  rest  of  them  to  live  in  a 
good  place  instead  of  a  bad  one." 

"  Of  course  it  would." 

"  And  if  anybody  could  help  them  to  get  there, 
I  suppose  they  ought  to  do  it  ? " 

"  Yes,  I  suppose  they  ought." 

"  Especially  the  babies  who  haven't  got  wicked 
yet  ?  " 

"  I  suppose  it  would  be  easier  to  begin  with 
the  babies.  Perhaps  some  day  we  might  do  some- 
thing like  that  ourselves,  when  we  are  bigger. 
Some  people  do  lots  of  good,  Hannah  says." 

"  Would  that  be  good  ?  " 

"Yes,  I'm  almost  sure  it  would.  If  Pat  had 
been  taken  away  when  he  was  a  baby,  perhaps  he 
wouldn't  be  dying  now.  He  would  have  been 
taken  care  of  properly." 

"  Yes,  like  Phyl's  baby  is  taken  care  of.  I  don't 
suppose  he  was  ever  taken  care  of  a  bit  like  that." 

"  I'm  sure  he  wasn't  ;  and  he  wasn't  taught  as 
Phyl's  baby  will  be  by-and-by.  I  don't  think  it's 
at  all  nice  belonging  to  gipsy  people.  It  isn't 
like  what  one  fancies  when  one  just  sees  them 
playing  about  on  a  common." 

Curly  nodded  his  head  assentingly.  He  had  felt 
that  himself  too,  and  was  glad  his  brother  approved 
the  feeling. 


294  A   PAIR   OF  OKIGINALS 

"  We  might  try  and  help  the  gipsy-babies  some 
day,"  he  said  softly. 

''Yes,  perhaps  we  might." 

Curly  was  so  far  encouraged  that  he  might  have 
said  more;  but  at  that  moment  Hannah  appeared 
with  the  glasses  of  milk  and  slices  of  cake  that 
formed  the  children's  supper  these  long  summer 
days,  and  the  opportunity  for  speech  was  lost. 
However,  Curly  felt  that  he  had  safely  broken 
ground,  and  that  there  would  be  no  serious  opposi- 
tion on  Bunny's  part  to  his  pet  scheme.  More 
than  that  he  did  not  expect  just  yet. 

Molly  was  the  next  person  he  took  into  his 
confidence  (for  time  was  getting  on  and  he  must 
really  see  about  the  matter  seriously),  and  her 
black  eyes  opened  in  astonishment  as  she  heard 
the  proposition. 

"  But  nobody  wouldn't  have  them,  little  master," 
she  said.  "  Babies  are  a  power  of  trouble — that 
they  be." 

"  But  I  know  some  people  who  do  want  them," 
answered  Curly  with  an  air  of  importance  that 
would  have  amused  a  less  respectful  listener  than 
Molly.  "  It's  some  very  nice  people  indeed,  and 
they  would  like  another  little  boy  or  two  to  play 
with  their  own  ;  and  I  thought  directly  of  your 
brown  babies,  and  how  much  nicer  it  would  be 
for  them  to  go  there  than  to  stay  here." 


A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  S$$ 

"Why,  of  course  it  would/  answered  Molly, 
with  dilating  eyes.  This  is  a  real  bad  place,  this 
is,  and  our  folks  are  bad  too.  I'd  be  glad  enough 
to  go  away  meself,  if  it  weren't  for  Pat.  Faith 
the  babies  would  be  better  off  with  any  folks 
sooner  than  mother.  She  was  in  liquor  yesterday 
and  beat  all  the  children,  every  one  that  didn't 
get  out  of  her  way.  She  was  wishing  then  she 
could  be  rid  of  them.  It  would  be  a  foine  thing 
for  them  to  get  took  off." 

"  They  would  have  a  nice  home,"  said  Curly, 
eagerly,  "  and  I  should  often  see  them ;  and  if 
you  liked,  I'd  write  to  you  and  tell  you  how  they 
got  on.  But  would  your  mother  let  me  have 
them  ?" 

"  There's  no  reckoning  on  mother,"  answered 
Molly,  gravely.  "  Some  days  she's  quiet-like  and 
almost  kind,  and  then  she  gets  mad  entirely  and 
goes  on  like  a  wild  thing.  But  if  the  folks  really 
came  and  talked  to  her  about  it,  maybe  she'd 
give  them  up.  I'm  sure  she  grumbles  often 
enough  at  all  the  mouths  there  are  to  feed." 

"  Oh,  but  nobody  will  come — only  me,"  said 
Curly.  "  I  want  her  to  let  me  have  them,  and  I 
shall  give  them  to  the  people  for  a  birthday 
present,  you  know." 

Molly's  eyes  opened  wider  than  ever,  and  bit 
by  bit  she  drew  from  Curly  all  the  story.  It 


296  A  PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

was  not  at  all  like  what  she  had  expected,  but 
her  Irish  blood  fired  at  the  thought  of  rescuing 
her  little  brothers  from  a  life  of  misery  and 
degradation  and  settling  them  in  a  beautiful, 
peaceful  home  like  the  one  she  heard  described. 
Curly  with  the  utmost  good  faith  vowed  solemnly 
that  he  knew  the  people  would  be  delighted  to 
have  the  brown  babies  as  an  addition  to  their 
family ;  and  that  being  the  case,  Molly  was  only 
too  delighted  to  aid  and  abet  by  every  means 
in  her  power. 

"  We  won't  speak  to  mother  about  it  at  all," 
she  said  in  an  energetic  whisper.  "  I'll  get  the 
babies  for  you — why,  if  they  were  missing  the 
whole  day  she  would  never  trouble  her  head 
over  them.  You  shall  come  for  them,  and  I'll 
meet  you  and  give  them  to  you ;  and  then  by- 
and-by,  when  she  does  ask,  I'll  tell  her  that 
they're  being  took  care  of  by  good  folks,  and 
she'll  be  glad  enough  to  be  rid  of  them.  What 
day  will  you  come  for  them?  I'll  have  them 
clean  washed  and  all  ready.  You  can't  carry 
them  yourself,  they're  powerful  heavy.  How  can 
you  take  them  away?" 

I'll  bring  the  donkey  in  the  cart ! "  cried  Curly, 
excitedly.  "  Don't  say  a  word  to  anybody,  Molly 
— not  even  to  Pat  or  to  my  brother.  I  want  it 
to  be  a  great  surprise.  I'll  come  on  Wednesday 


A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  297 

t 

at  three  o'clock.  Bunny  has  a  music-lesson  then, 
so  nothing  will  stop  me.  Thursday  is  the  birth- 
day, so  that  it  will  all  fit  in.  They  can  live  in  our 
hut  one  night, — I'll  have  a  bed  of  leaves  all  ready 
for  them,— and  the  next  day  we'll  take  them  over 
to  Phyl  and  Tor." 

To  Curly's  wild  impatience  it  seemed  as  if  the 
intervening  days  would  never  pass ;  but  for  all 
that,  they  did  in  due  course,  and  there  came  a 
time  when,  with  flushed  face  and  a  countenance 
of  great  absorption,  he  set  off  in  the  donkey-cart 
quite  alone,  and  drove  himself  into  the  pine-wood 
over  the  uneven  track  which  ran  through. 

How  his  heart  beat  as  he  approached  the  ap- 
pointed place !  But  Molly  had  not  disappointed 
him.  There  she  was,  and  there  were  the  two 
brown  babies,  looking  unwontedly  spruce  and 
neat,  holding  out  their  arms  and  crowing  lustily 
the  moment  that  Curly  appeared  upon  the  scene. 

"  Here,  take  them,  little  master,"  cried  Molly, 
eagerly,  "  for  I  can't  stay.  Lots  of  the  children  is 
took  ill — I'm  sure  it's  a  mercy  to  have  these  out 
of  the  way.  Mother  told  me  to  take  them  and 
keep  them  where  Pat  is,  so  she'll  never  miss  them 
if  they  don't  come  back  all  night.  She's  busy 
looking  after  the  others.  Folks  thinks  it's  measles 
as  they've  got.  But  these  are  all  right  and  well, 
bless  them.  Kiss  Molly  and  let  her  go.  Good- 


298  A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

bye,  little  master ;  Heaven  bless  ye  for  a  kind 
heart !  Ye'll  tell  me  one  of  these  days  if  the  good 
folks  has  took  kind  to  the  children." 

Molly  had  to  dash  back  to  her  busy  mother. 
Curly  laid  his  charges  in  the  bottom  of  the  cart, 
where  the  motion  soon  sent  them  off  asleep,  and 
with  a  heart  swelling  with  pride  and  the  joy  of 
an  achieved  triumph,  he  drove  slowly  home  to  the 
paddock,  with  his  live  burden  well  concealed  from 
all  chance  of  prying  eyes. 


CHAPTER     XVII 

"OH,  Curly!" 

"  But,  Bunny,  aren't  you  pleased?" 

"  I — I  don't  know  ;  it  seems  so  queer.  Curly,  do 
you  think  you  ought  to  have  done  it?" 

"  Oh,  Bunny,  yes,"  was  the  eager  answer.  "  They 
will  be  a  beautiful  present  for  Phyl  and  Tor,  and 
Phyl  will  take  care  of  them  in  her  own  nurseries 
with  little  Tor,  and  make  them  so  happy.  And 
they  will  grow  up  good  then,  not  wild  and  naughty 
like  the  other  children.  Bunny,"  and  here  Curly's 
face  grew  very  red  and  very  earnest,  "  I've  felt  for  a 
long  time  as  if  those  brown  babies  were  'sponsibili- 
ties  of  mine,  and  it  didn't  seem  as  if  there  could  be 
a  better  way  of  doing  it  than  giving  them  to  Phyl 
and  Tor." 

Bunny  rumpled  up  his  hair  in  perplexed  doubt, 
and  stood  gazing  at  the  pair  of  kidnapped  babies 
with  a  face  of  much  bewilderment  and  compassion. 
The  little  brown  creatures  were  eagerly  sucking 
down  large  spoonfuls  of  bread  and  milk  with  which 

Curly  was  feeding  them  in   quite  a  knowing  way. 

299 


300  A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

Their  bright  eyes,  glowing  cheeks,  and  firm,  rounded 
brown  limbs  scantily  clad  in  nondescript  garments 
decidedly  too  small  for  them,  made  them  quite  a 
picture  of  infantine  beauty.  As  they  laughed  and 
crowed  in  Curly's  face,  Bunny  could  not  feel  sur- 
prised at  his  brother's  sense  of  affectionate  ownership. 
Yet  all  the  same,  Bunny  was  not  without  misgivings 
on  the  subject.  He  had  an  idea  that  there  was 
some  very  radical  difference  between  babies  and 
other  live  pets.  He  was  not  at  all  certain  how  Tor 
and  Phyl  would  look  upon  the  handsome  present 
prepared  for  them,  nor  what  Granny  would  say 
when  she  heard  of  it. 

"  Wasn't  it  rather  like  stealing  them,  Curly  ?  " 

The  little  boy's  eyes  opened  wide. 

"  Oh  no  ;  Molly  gave  them  to  me.  And  I  know 
their  mother  doesn't  want  them;  she's  told  me  lots 
of  times  that  she  has  more  than  she  knows  what  to 
do  with.  Granny  said  just  the  same — I  mean  old 
granny  at  the  quarry.  I  know  we  may  have  them. 
And  oh,  Bunny,  just  think  how  happy  they  will  be ! 
I  can't  bear  to  think  of  them  growing  up  wicked 
and  using  bad  words,  and  perhaps  stealing  and 
lying  like  Molly  says  such  lots  of  the  gipsy  children 
do.  Oh,  it's  much  better  to  take  them  away  little, 
before  they  learn  anything  bad." 

"Why,  yes,  all  that's  true  enough,"  answered 
Bunny,  thinking  of  the  revelations  Pat  had  made  to 


A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  301 

him  about  his  life  with  the  wandering  tinker-folk, 
and  the  things  he  had  seen  and  done.  "Only 
somehow  I  think  it  would  have  been  better  to 
have  asked  Granny,  or  perhaps  Hannah,  first/' 

"  Then  it  wouldn't  have  been  a  surprise  ;  some- 
body would  have  let  out  about  it,"  answered  Curly, 
eagerly,  "  and  I  wanted  it  to  be  a  great  surprise." 

"Yes,  I  suppose  you  did,"  answered  Bunny, 
thoughtfully,  but  without  any  exuberant  satisfaction 
in  his  tone. 

"  Birthday  presents  are  always  surprises — at  least 
they  ought  to  be,"  continued  Curly,  as  he  finished 
feeding  his  two  small  charges  and  got  up  and  stood 
beside  Bunny.  "  And  one  can't  trust  grown-ups  not 
to  tell  each  other.  It's  very  queer  they  can't  keep 
a  secret,  but  I  don't  believe  they  can." 

Bunny  was  looking  gravely  at  the  babies,  now 
rolling  delightedly  on  the  warm  soft  grass  of  the 
paddock. 

"  What  are  you  going  to  do  with  them  to-night?" 
he  asked. 

Curly,  with  a  smile  of  triumph,  opened  the  door 
of  the  hut  and  showed  a  soft  bed  of  dried  fern  and 
moss. 

"They  will  sleep  there,"  answered  Curly.  "  It  is 
a  much  nicer  bed  than  any  they  have  in  the  hut. 
And  then  to-morrow  I'll  give  them  a  good  wash, — 
Molly  showed  me  how, — and  I  can  dress  them  too, 


302  A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

because  you  see  they  don't  have  many  clothes  ;  and 
then  we'll  put  the  pony  in  the  cart  and  take  them 
straight  off  to  Phyl  and  Tor.  I  know  they  have 
lots  of  clothes  there  big  enough,  because  the  nurse 
is  always  sewing ;  and  when  I  asked  Phyl  what  she 
did,  she  said  that  little  Tor  grew  so  fast  they  had  to 
make  bigger  clothes  for  him  ready  when  he  wanted 
them.  So  the  big  things  will  just  do  for  the  brown 
babies.  I  thought  of  that  when  she  said  it." 

"  I — I  don't  quite  know  if  Phyl  will  care  about 
that,"  faltered  Bunny,  rather  taken  aback  by  the 
thoroughness  with  which  his  little  brother  had  gone 
into  this  scheme ;  but  Curly  was  intent  upon  his 
own  thoughts  and  did  not  heed.  He  was  looking 
at  the  giggling  twins  at  his  feet  with  a  look  of  fond 
pride  in  his  eyes,  and  presently  he  shook  back  his 
wavy  golden  hair  and  said, 

"  I  hope  Phyl  won't  care  less  for  little  Tor  when 
she  has  these  brown  babies  too,  for  I  shouldn't  like 
little  Tor  to  be  any  worse  off,  you  know.  But  of 
course  nobody  could  help  seeing  how  much  prettier 
these  are  than  the  one  they  chose.  I  don't  want  to 
be  unkind  to  little  Tor,  but  I  don't  think  Phyl  can 
help  liking  these  the  best.  But  she's  so  kind,  I 
don't  suppose  she'll  let  him  feel  any  difference." 

Again  Bunny  rubbed  his  head  reflectively. 

"  I  expect  she'll  go  on  liking  little  Tor  best,"  he 
said  slowly. 


A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  303 

"  Do  you  think  so  ?     Why?" 

"  Oh,  because  she's  had  him  longest ;  and  he's 
her  very  own,  you  know." 

"  But  the  brown  babies  will  be  her  very  own — at 
least  one  will  be  hers  and  one  Tor's,"  answered 
Curly,  eagerly.  "  But  I  dare  say  she'll  like  them  all 
alike  soon,  and  that  will  be  best  of  all.  I  should 
be  very  sorry  if  she  got  not  to  care  so  much  for 
little  Tor,  because  he's  really  a  nice  baby ;  but  of 
course  he's  not  half  so  interesting  as  these,  nor  so 
pretty." 

Bunny  sighed.  He  rather  wished  Curly  had  not 
loaded  them  with  these  two  new  responsibilities. 
He  did  not  like  to  damp  his  pleasure,  but  he  felt  as 
though  there  would  be  unexpected  complications  in 
store  before  the  transfer  of  the  gipsy  children  was 
actually  accomplished.  But  his  thoughts  were  not 
clear  enough  to  be  put  into  words. 

"Well,  I'm  glad  we  have  only  to  keep  them 
till  to-morrow,  for  I  don't  think  we  know  enough 
about  babies,  Curly — " 

"  I  do,"  interrupted  that  young  gentleman,  quickly, 
though  speaking  beneath  his  breath. 

" — to  take  care  of  them  long.  And  I  don't  much 
like  leaving  them  out  here  all  night.  If  it  rained  or 
there  was  a  thunder-storm,  or  they  woke  up  and 
found  themselves  all  alone  in  the  dark,  they  might 
be  very  frightened.  In  the  hut  they  have  people 


304  A    PA IR   OF  ORIGINALS 

all  round  them.  I  don't  think  babies  are  ever  left 
out  in  places  like  this  alone." 

Curly  had  not  thought  of  this  difficulty,  and  drew 
his  breath  hard. 

"  It's  such  a  comfortable  bed,"  he  said  ;  "  I  had  a 
nap  there  myself  the  other  day,  and  it's  all  beauti- 
fully dry.  I  knew  they  must  not  sleep  on  anything 
damp.  Hannah  says  damp  beds  give  folks  their 
death  sometimes." 

"  It  isn't  the  bed,  it's  the  loneliness,"  said  Bunny. 
"Folks  don't  leave  babies  all  night  out-of-doors 
alone." 

"  Well,  but  what  can  we  do  ?  "  asked  Curly. 

"  I  don't  know." 

"  The  little  brothers  stood  looking  at  one  another 
in  perplexity,  and  then  Curly's  face  brightened. 

"  I  know." 

"What?" 

"  Why,  there's  the  old  empty  attic  over  our  night- 
nursery  ;  nobody  ever  goes  there,  and  there's  a  bed 
in  it — they  can  sleep  there.  It  will  be  more  con- 
venient for  washing  and  dressing  them  ;  and  if  we 
go  up  by  the  little  staircase  from  the  shrubbery, 
nobody  will  see  us.  After  the  gardeners  have  gone 
away  there's  never  anybody  about  then.  Come 
along." 

Curly  caught  up  one  of  the  brown  babies  and 
gave  it  to  Bunny,  and  then  took  up  the  other  himself. 


A   PAIR  OF  ORIGINALS  3^5 

"We'd  better  go  now.  If  it  gets  later,  Hannah 
may  come  out  to  look  for  us.  It's  almost  time  we 
went  to  bed  ourselves." 

Bunny  was  still  doubtful  about  the  propriety 
of  the  scheme,  but  he  saw  that  Curly's  whole  heart 
was  in  it,  and  he  began  to  catch  some  of  his  enthu- 
siasm. He  certainly  did  think  that  it  would  be  a 
very  good  thing  to  rescue  the  two  little  innocent 
children  from  the  life  which  lay  before  them,  but 
he  did  not  feel  quite  so  sanguine  as  Curly  of  the 
reception  the  brown  babies  would  meet  with  from 
Phyl  and  Tor.  His  slightly  longer  acquaintance 
with  life  had  taught  him  that  there  were  matters 
beyond  his  comprehension  where  grown-up  per- 
sons were  concerned.  But  still  Curly  might  be 
right :  he  certainly  knew  more  about  babies  than 
his  brother,  and  was  on  slightly  more  confidential 
terms  with  Phyl. 

At  any  rate,  Bunny  was  quite  sure  that  the  babies 
ought  not  to  be  left  all  night  alone  in  the  hut  in  the 
paddock,  and  he  was  quite  willing  to  take  his  own 
share  in  smuggling  them  into  the  house.  Only, 
as  the  little  pair  of  brothers  pursued  their  way, 
panting  under  the  weight  of  their  burdens,  a  sudden 
misgiving  struck  Bunny,  and  he  stopped  short  and 
laid  his  brown  baby  down,  partly  to  wipe  the  heat- 
drops  from  his  brow,  partly  to  communicate  to 
Curly  the  misgiving  which  had  just  assailed  him. 


306  A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

"  Suppose  they  should  wake  up  in  the  night  and 
cry?" 

Curly  followed  Bunny's  example  of  setting  down 
his  burden  for  a  moment  whilst  he  considered  this 
suggestion,  but  he  answered  promptly  and  confi- 
dently, 

"  I  don't  believe  they  will.     They  never  do  cry." 

"  Hannah  would  hear  directly." 

"  I  suppose  she  would ;  but  I  think  Hannah  might 
keep  our  secret.  You  see,  after  to-morrow  it  won't 
be  a  secret.  Phil  and  Tor  will  have  them  then." 

"  Well,  we  must  see  what  they  do,  I  suppose,"  said 
Bunny,  resuming  his  burden.  And  the  transit  of 
the  brown  babies  to  the  attic  was  accomplished  in 
safety  and  without  molestation. 

The  Priory,  being  a  queer  old  house,  had  several 
staircases  of  its  own,  and  one  of  these,  with  a  door 
leading  out  into  the  shrubbery  at  the  back,  was  very 
much  used  by  the  children  and  very  little  by  any- 
body else.  It  led  more  quickly  to  their  own  domain 
than  any  of  the  other  doors  or  stairs,  and  they  very 
seldom  encountered  any  other  person  either  in  the 
shrubbery  or  on  staircase  or  landing. 

Certainly  the  attic  when  reached  seemed  to  Bunny 
a  very  much  better  sleeping-place  for  babies  than 
the  hut  in  the  paddock.  As  it  was  just  under  the 
roof,  it  was  very  warm  and  dry  in  summer,  and 
there  was  plenty  of  bedding  of  all  kinds,  as  well  as 


HIDING  THE   BABIES. 


Page  307 


A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  307 

odds  and  ends  of  furniture  piled  up  in  odd  corners. 
When  in  old  days  the  house  had  been  full  and  the 
nursery-party  a  large  one,  this  attic  had  been  used 
as  a  supplementary  sleeping-place,  and  had  never 
been  entirely  dismantled. 

So  Curly  was  able  to  undress  his  precious  babies, 
and  wrap  them  in  some  clean  and  ancient  infantile 
garments  he  routed  out  from  an  old  press,  and  laid 
them  in  bed  more  luxuriously  than  they  had  ever 
been  laid  before  in  their  lives.  Weary  with  the  jour- 
ney and  the  excitement  of  the  day,  and  soothed  by 
the  plentiful  meal  of  which  they  had  partaken,  the 
babies  sank  off  to  sleep  almost  at  once  in  a  most 
satisfactory  way.  Curly  looked  at  them  with  fond 
pride  as  he  arranged  the  bedclothes  about  them. 

"  They  aren't  big  enough  to  say  their  prayers  yet, 
Bunny,"  he  remarked  :  "  let  us  say  prayers  for  them 
— let's  say  ours  here  by  them  before  we  go  down 
ourselves." 

Bunny  was  quite  ready  to  do  this ;  and  when  the 
simple  ceremony  was  completed,  the  little  brothers 
slipped  down  to  their  own  quarters,  where  Hannah 
was  beginning  to  look  for  them,  as  their  bedtime 
was  already  past. 

"  We've  got  such  a  nice  present  for  Phil  and 
Tor,  to-morrow,"  said  Curly,  as  he  sat  down  to  his 
•milk  and  cake  with  a  sigh  of  satisfaction.  "  We 
can't  tell  you  what  they  are  yet,  because  it's  to  be 


308  A    PAIR   Of  ORIGINALS* 

a  secret  till  to-morrow.  But  it'll  be  a  great  surprise, 
I'm  almost  sure  of  that.  Bunny,  you  think  it  will 
be  a  surprise,  don't  you  ?  " 

"Yes,  I  think  it  will,"  answered  Bunny,  with  his 
eyes  on  his  plate. 

"  Well,  no  doubt  it  will  be  a  very  nice  surprise," 
said  old  Hannah,  fondly,  "  and  a  happy  day  you  will 
have,  I  don't  doubt,  over  at  the  manor-house.  Her 
ladyship  told  me  just  now  that  Mr.  Torwood  and 
his  lady  would  be  over  here  early  in  the  morning  to 
see  her,  and  that  they  would  take  you  back  with 
them  to  spend  the  afternoon  at  their  house,  so  I'm 
to  dress  you  in  your  best,  first  thing,  to  have  you 
all  ready  when  they  come." 

Bunny  and  Curly  exchanged  glances.  This  was 
not  quite  what  they  had  expected,  but  perhaps  it 
would  do  as  well.  The  babies  could  be  given 
almost  as  well  here  as  at  the  manor-house,  and  then 
Granny  would  enjoy  the  surprise  too.  On  the 
whole,  perhaps  it  was  the  best  thing  that  could  have 
happened  ;  for  Bunny  had  a  very  decided  feeling 
that  if  they  were  to  be  met  on  the  morrow  carrying 
off  a  pair  of  babies  to  present  to  Phyl  and  Tor, 
something  would  happen  to  frustrate  the  scheme; 
and  now  that  they  had  really  made  a  start,  Bunny 
did  not  want  it  to  be  frustrated. 

The  little  brothers  slept  restlessly  that  night.  It 
was  very  hot  for  one  thing,  and,  for  another,  they 


A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  309 

felt  some  anxiety  as  to  the  behaviour  of  their  little 
charges  overhead.  If  they  were  to  cry  or  to  tumble 
out  of  bed,  the  sound  might  reach  Hannah's  ears ; 
for  Hannah  slept  beneath  the  attic,  as  far  as  they 
understood  the  locality  of  the  place,  and  they  were 
very  anxious  not  to  be  forestalled  in  the  grand 
denouement  of  their  delightful  surprise. 

Early  rising  was  no  unwonted  thing  with  the  little 
brothers,  and  so  Hannah  was  not  surprised  to  find 
them  up  and  out  before  she  appeared  to  call  them 
in  the  morning.  They  had  not,  however,  donned 
the  best  white  sailor-suits  laid  out  for  them  so 
carefully,  but  had  put  on  their  garden-blouses  in- 
stead. 

"  Bless  their  little  hearts,  they  were  thoughtful 
enough  not  to  go  and  mess  their  clean  clothes.  For 
boys,  they  be  wonderful  considering.  I  dare  say, 
now,  they've  gone  out  to  get  Miss  Phyl — I  should 
say  Mrs.  Chesterton,  bless  her! — a  birthday  posy. 
They'll  be  as  hungry  as  hunters  when  they  come  in, 
for  sure.  I'll  get  them  something  extra  nice  for 
breakfast,  that  I  will,  and  they  can  dress  them- 
selves neat  and  clean  afterwards." 

The  good  soul  hurried  away  to  see  to  this  matter, 
and  when  she  returned,  the  little  brothers  were  in 
their  nursery,  their  faces  very  red,  and  Bunny's 
unwontedly  grave  and  even  perplexed,  though 
neither  spoke  a  word  of  their  early  doings,  nor  did 


310  A   PA  IK   OF  ORIGINALS 

they  seem  to  have  that  hearty  appetite  with  which 
she  had  credited  them. 

The  basons  of  bread-and-milk  were  but  little 
patronised,  though  Curly  kept  his  close  to  his  plate, 
and  would  not  let  it  be  taken  away  even  when  he 
turned  himself  to  the  other  dainties  upon  the  table. 

"  I  may  want  it  presently,"  he  said,  thinking 
Hannah  meant  to  wrest  it  from  him  ;  at  which  she 
laughed  and  said  that  he  would  have  better  things 
than  that  by-and-by  to  eat.  But  he  did  not  make 
any  intelligible  reply,  and  kept  the  bason  jealously 
beside  him. 

She  presently  passed  into  the  night-nursery,  and 
the  moment  she  was  gone  Curly  took  up  the  bread- 
and-milk  and  carried  it  carefully  away,  saying  in  a 
whisper  to  Bunny, 

"  You  stay  here.  I'll  go  and  give  them  their 
breakfast.  They'll  be  all  right  when  they've  had  it. 
Only  you  must  be  here  lest  Hannah  comes  back. 
Say  I've  gone  to  feed  some  of  our  things  with  my 
bread-and-milk." 

Bunny  nodded,  and  Curly  vanished  and  was  gone 
some  considerable  time.  When  he  reappeared,  it 
was  with  a  decidedly  troubled  face. 

"They  won't  eat  it,"  he  said  in  a  low  voice, 
"  they  won't  look  at  it ;  and  they  only  fret  and 
whimper  and  then  go  off  to  sleep,  and  then  wake 
up  and  cry  a  little.  I  never  saw  them  a  bit  like  that 


A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  311 

before.  I  don't  know  what  to  do.  I  think  they've 
got  bad  colds,  too  ;  their  eyes  and  noses  are  red 
and  damp,  and  their  faces  are  red  too — not  brown, 
but  red.  I  am  so  disappointed  about  it,  for  I 
wanted  them  to  look  their  nicest  for  Phyl.  And  if 
they  only  whimper  and  cry,  she  won't  know  half 
what  jolly  little  chaps  they  really  are." 

Bunny  heaved  a  great  sigh. 

"  I  was  afraid  we  didn't  know  how  to  manage 
babies,"  he  said. 

"  But  I  do  know — only  they  never  used  to  be  like 
this.  I  can't  think  what's  come  to  them,"  answered 
Curly,  aggrieved.  "  They  used  to  be  always  laugh- 
ing, and  they  would  eat  anything  I  gave  them — and 
Molly  said  just  the  same.  It  is  tiresome  of  them 
just  to  be  so  different  now." 

"  P'raps  they  don't  like  being  taken  away,"  sug- 
gested Bunny,  not  knowing  what  else  to  say. 

"I'm  sure  it's  a  much  nicer  place." 

"Then  it  must  be  because  we  don't  understand 
them.  We  never  had  babies  to  take  care  of  be- 
fore." 

"Well,  but  Phyl  knows  ;  and  she'll  be  here  soon, 
and  we'll  give  them  to  her.  When  she  gets  them, 
they  will  be  all  right  directly.  She  can  always 
make  little  Tor  laugh  and  be  good,  even  if  he's 
roaring  with  anybody  else." 

"  That'll  be  the  best  way,"  said  Bunny,  with  a  sigh 


312  A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

of  relief,  for  he  felt  that  the  responsibility  of  the 
brown  babies  was  a  good  deal  too  much  for  them 
to  bear  without  farther  advice  and  assistance ;  and 
just  at  that  moment  Hannah  came  hurrying  into 
the  room  with  a  look  of  astonishment  upon  her  face. 

"What  is  it?"  asked  Curly,  starting  up,  for  a 
sudden  fear  had  assailed  him. 

"  Why,  it  may  be  nothing,  dearies ;  but  I  thought 
I  heard  a  queer  noise  overhead  upstairs — for  all  the 
world  as  if  there  was  something  alive  up  there.  I 
dare  say  it's  the  cat — gone  up  after  mice  and  got 
shut  in,  poor  thing.  I'll  go  and  let  her  out.  I'm 
sure  it  was  a  bit  of  a  cry  of  some  kind." 

"  Oh,  I'll  go ! "  cried  Curly,  his  face  as  red  as  a 
peony.  "  Don't  you  come,  Hannah  ;  I'll  let  puss 
out  if  she  is  shut  up  there." 

He  ran  to  the  door  and  was  out  in  a  moment, 
Hannah  looking  after  him  doubtfully,  and  then 
turning  to  Bunny,  saying, 

"  You're  not  keeping  any  live  things  up  there,  are 
you,  honey  ? — for  her  ladyship  wouldn't  like  to  have 
animals  in  the  house.  It's  one  of  the  things  she 
has  set  her  face  against  always,  and  it  isn't  right  to 
break  her  rules." 

It  was  Bunny's  turn  now  to  get  red  ;  he  hesitated 
for  a  few  seconds,  and  then  said  diffidently, 

"  It's  not  animals  exactly,  and  it's  only  for  one 
night.  It's  the  surprise  we've  got  ready  for  Phyl 


A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  313 

and  Tor.  When  they  come,  we  shall  give  them 
away.  I  shall  be  very  glad."  And  Bunny  heaved  a 
sigh  which  told  of  some  load  upon  his  spirit. 

Hannah's  face,  which  had  been  overcast  and 
anxious,  now  cleared  up  entirely. 

"  Oh,  if  it's  only  that,  I  don't  mind — some  new 
pet  you've  got  to  give  away ;  but  surely  it's  an 
animal,  Master  Bunny,  my  dear? — for  I'm  sure  I 
heard  it  make  a  noise." 

"  Well,"  answered  Bunny,  who  was  speaking  with 
great  deliberation,  "  it's  an  animal  in  one  way,  be- 
cause if  it  were  dumb  crambo  we  were  playing,  it 
would  count  as  animal,  because  it's  not  vegetable 
or  mineral ;  but  they're  not  called  animals  when 
people  talk  about  them — at  least,  not  generally. 
Though  to  be  sure  Tor  calls  his  a  little  animal, 
and  a  little  beast,  and  a  little  kid." 

The  door  of  the  nursery  stood  open,  and  just  at 
this  moment  there  issued  from  some  upper  region 
a  most  unmistakable  and  pronounced  baby-yell, 
which  was  speedily  followed  by  another,  and  that 
by  a  whole  series  of  similar  cries.  Good  Hannah 
stood  for  a  moment  as  if  petrified,  and  Bunny 
sprang  to  his  feet  aghast.  He  felt  his  shoulder  held 
in  a  firm  grasp  as  the  astonished  nurse  gasped  out, 

"  Master  Bunny,  my  dear,  you  take  my  breath 
away.  Tell  me,  for  pity's  sake,  what  you  have  got 
up  there ! " 


314  A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

"  It's  Curly 's  secret  more  than  mine,"  answered 
Bunny.  "  It  was  he  who  thought  of  it  and  did  it  ; 
but  it  will  be  a  great  surprise  for  Phyl  and  Tor. 
We  have  got  two  nice  little  brown  gipsy-babies  to 
give  them,  to  be  companions  for  little  Tor  when 
he  is  old  enough  to  want  to  play." 

"  Dear  heart  alive,  whatever  will  the  mistress 
say!" 

This  remark  was  not  addressed  to  Bunny,  but 
seemed  to  escape  from  Hannah's  lips  naturally  as 
she  hurried  past  him  to  the  door.  All  he  could  do 
was  to  follow  as  fast  as  he  could,  and  being  decid- 
edly the  quicker  of  the  two,  reached  the  attic  first, 
slipping  past  her  on  the  stairs  and  running  forward 
to  give  the  alarm. 

"Curly,  Curly,  Hannah  is  coming!" 

Curly  turned  a  flushed  and  worried  face  towards 
his  brother  and  did  not  seem  surprised  at  the  news. 
The  babies  were  not  screaming  now,  but  were  moan- 
ing and  sobbing  under  their  breath. 

"  I  don't  know  what  to  do  with  them,"  he  said. 
"  The  moment  I  wanted  to  lift  them  up  to  dress 
them,  they  began  to  yell.  I  wouldn't  have  believed 
babies  could  be  so — so — what  old  granny  calls 
contrairy.  Molly  said  they  never  cried  unless  they 
were  beaten,  and  I'm  sure  I  never  hurt  them.  I 
wish  Phyl  would  come  and  take  them  away  ;  I'm 
quite  tired  of  them  already.  I  don't  think  'spon- 


A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  315 

sibilities  are  half  as  nice  as  I  thought  they  would 
be." 

Curly  looked  dreadfully  put  out  and  aggrieved. 
It  seemed  to  him  as  though  his  young  charges  were 
behaving  in  an  altogether  outrageous  manner,  and 
he  did  not  much  care  how  soon  he  washed  his 
hands  of  his  responsibilities.  It  was  almost  a  relief 
to  see  Hannah's  portly  figure  in  the  doorway.  It 
was  only  anticipating  the  surprise  by  a  few  hours, 
if  as  much.  And  perhaps  she  would  be  able  to 
make  these  troublesome  babies  good  again. 

The  look  upon  Hannah's  face  as  she  advanced 
into  the  attic  was  a  study  for  a  comic  painter.  Dis- 
may, consternation,  astonishment,  bewilderment,  all 
struggled  there  for  mastery  as  she  beheld  the  two 
babies  lying  upon  the  bed  together,  Curly  stand- 
ing beside  them  with  a  very  red  and  disturbed 
face.  There  was,  however,  no  shame  or  shrinking 
in  the  gaze  that  he  turned  upon  his  nurse,  and  he 
appealed  to  her  with  the  greatest  confidence  and 
good  faith. 

"  Oh,  Hannah,  do  you  understand  babies  ? — for  I 
don't  think  I  do  as  well  as  I  thought  I  did.  We've 
got  these  two  to  give  to  Phyl  and  Tor,  and  they 
always  used  to  laugh  and  crow,  and  to-day  they 
won't  do  anything  but  cry  and  be  naughty.  Please 
make  them  good,  and  then  we'll  dress  them  ready. 
It's  the  surprise  we've  got  for  Phyl  and  Tor  on 


316  A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

their  birthday.  Don't  you  think  it's  a  very  nice 
surprise  ?  " 

"Goodness  gracious,  Master  Curly,  my  dear! 
wherever  did  you  get  them  from?" 

"  Oh,  from  a  horrid,  cross  woman,  a  sort  of 
gipsy,  who  had  lots  of  them — more  than  she 
wanted ;  and  Molly  said  she  was  sure  I  might  have 
these  two.  I  don't  want  them  to  grow  up  wicked 
like  the  rest,  and  I  know  Phyl  wants  another  baby 
to  play  with  hers,  only  Tor  thinks  it  too  expen- 
sive to  get  her  another  just  yet.  So  we've  got 
two  for  a  surprise.  Don't  you  think  it  will  be 
a  great  surprise?" 

Hannah  did  not  laugh — the  laughing  over  the 
episode  came  later  on ;  she  was  too  confounded 
and  bewildered  by  it  all  now  to  do  anything  but 
gasp  and  gape.  Sitting  down  on  the  edge  of  the 
bed,  she  looked  at  the  two  children  and  motioned 
the  boys  back. 

"  The  bairns  are  sick,"  she  said  at  once.  "  Mas- 
ter Bunny,  take  Master  Curly  away  to  the  nursery, 
and  send  word  that  I  want  to  see  Mrs.  Blake  up 
here,  if  she  will  be  so  good  as  to  step  this  way. 
Where  did  these  little  creatures  come  from,  and 
where  is  their  own  mother?" 

"  They  came  from  the  quarry — those  huts  where 
the  gipsy  people  live,"  answered  Curly,  readily ; 
"  but  it  isn't  any  use  wanting  their  mother,  she 


A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  317 

couldn't  come — she's  busy.  Her  other  children 
have  got  the  measles,  and  Molly  said  that's  one 
reason  why  these  won't  ever  be  missed.  She 
sent  them  away  to  live  with  Pat,  because  she 
was  busy  looking  after  the  others.  That's  one 
reason  why  I  got  them  so  easily — just  in  time  for 
the  surprise." 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

CURLY  nipped  Bunny's  hand  tightly  in  his.  His 
face  was  rather  disturbed. 

"  What  is  it  ?  "  he  asked.  "  Is  she  angry?  Why 
did  she  send  us  away  so  quick  ?  " 

"  I  don't  know — not  exactly.  I  don't  think  she 
likes  the  babies,  Curly.  And  I  think  she  is  rather 
frightened." 

"What  about?" 

"  I  don't  exactly  know.  Perhaps  she  is  afraid 
what  Granny  may  say.  Oh,  Curly,  I'm  afraid  per- 
haps it  was  naughty  to  bring  them  away  here." 

Curly's  face  looked  very  serious. 

"  I  didn't  think  it  was  naughty ;  I'd  have  told,  if 
it  hadn't  been  for  a  surprise.  Bunny,  if  it's  been 
naughty,  let's  go  and  tell  Granny  ourselves,  now. 
I  always  promised  I  would  if  I  did  anything  else 
naughty  again." 

Bunny  looked  down  at  their  soiled  blouses, — 
Curly's  was  well  spattered  with  bread-and-milk, — 
and  said, 

"  We  must   dress   ourselves   properly  first.      We 

can't  go  down  to  Granny  like  this." 

318 


A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  319 

"  Come  along,  then,"  cried  Curly,  eagerly.  "  All 
our  nice  things  are  put  out  ready.  We  sha'n't  be 
long,  and  Granny  will  be  at  breakfast.  Come  on." 

In  a  very  short  time  the  little  brothers  had 
effected  a  decided  improvement  in  their  personal 
appearance.  Nothing  could  well  have  looked  more 
spruce  and  attractive  than  the  little  pair  of  brothers 
in  their  clean,  white  sailor-suits,  with  their  well- 
brushed  hair  and  well-scrubbed  hands  and  faces,  as 
they  made  their  way  down  the  great  staircase  to  the 
door  of  the  dining-room.  As  they  neared  this,  they 
heard  the  sound  of  a  laugh — Tor's  unmistakable 
laugh — and  Curly 's  face  kindled  into  an  eager  smile. 

"  I  declare,  they've  come  already  ;  how  nice !  " 

"  It  will  be  easier  telling  Granny  when  Tor  is 
there,"  added  Bunny.  "  He  always  laughs,  and 
Granny  has  to  laugh  too." 

"  I  don't  see  that  there's  anything  to  laugh  at," 
answered  Curly,  a  little  hurt.  "  But  I'sn  glad  Phyl 
will  be  there.  She  can  say  how  much  she  wanted 
some  more  babies." 

Hand-in-hand  the  little  brothers  approached  the 
door  and  opened  it.  There,  on  each  side  of  the 
breakfast-table,  sat  Phyl  and  Tor,  talking  to  each 
other  unconcernedly  enough.  But  the  place  behind 
the  silver  urn  was  vacant.  Granny  had  evidently 
been  summoned  away,  for  it  was  plain  she  had 
been  there  by  the  look  of  her  plate  and  cup. 


320  A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

Bunny  and  Curly  ran  eagerly  forward. 

"  Many  happy  returns  of  the  day,  Phyl.  Many 
happy  returns  of  the  day,  Tor.  Isn't  it  a  nice  day 
for  a  birthday  ?  And  how  early  you've  come  !  " 

"  Yes,  we  thought  the  drive  would  be  pleasantest 
in  the  cool,"  answered  Phyl ;  and  then  the  little 
brothers  eagerly  pounced  upon  some  very  pretty 
presents  in  silver  that  Granny  had  evidently  just 
bestowed  upon  her  favourites. 

"  Where  is  Granny?  "  asked  Bunny. 

"  She  was  here  just  now,  but  Watkins  came  with 
a  mysterious  message  which  took  her  off  some- 
where. I  wasn't  sure,  but  I  thought  I  heard  your 
names  spoken,  you  young  rascals.  Have  you  been 
up  to  any  fresh  mischief,  eh  ?  " 

"  No,"  answered  Curly,  stoutly,  "  it  isn't  mischief 
at  all.  If  it's  anything  at  all  to  do  with  us,  I  expect 
it's  about  our  surprise.  We've  got  a  surprise  for 
you  and  Tof,  Phyl — two  surprises.  If  we'd  known 
you  were  here,  we'd  have  asked  Hannah  to  let  us 
bring  them  down  to  show  you.  You'll  like  them 
awfully,  I'm  sure;  won't  she,  Bunny?  But  Hannah 
was  so  surprised  that  she  sent  us  away,  and  Bunny 
thought  perhaps  we'd  better  come  and  tell  Granny 
first — and  that's  why  we  came.  I  expect  Granny  is 
having  the  surprise  now.  It  will  be  your  turn  next. 
It  seems  as  if  you  ought  to  have  had  it  first  " 

Curly's  face  was  beaming.     His  courage  was  all 


A  PAIR  OF  ORIGINALS  321 

coming  back.  Now  that  the  brown  babies  were 
almost  Phyl's  property,  all  his  anxieties  ceased. 
She  would  make  them  happy — she  would  make 
them  good.  There  would  be  no  more  crying  and 
fretting  now.  Everything  would  come  right  of 
itself. 

Tor  was  looking  in  an  amused  way  from  Curly's 
beaming  face  to  Bunny's  flushed  and  doubtful  one. 
He  began  to  suspect  the  existence  of  some  "  mare's 
nest,"  as  he  called  it  in  his  own  mind,  and  accord- 
ingly he  began  to  ask  questions. 

"  And  what  is  this  surprise  ?  " 

"  It's  your  birthday  present — yours  and  Phyl's. 
I  thought  of  it.  I  knew  just  what  you  wanted." 

"  Well,  and  what  is  it  ?   I'm  dying  of  curiosity." 

"  It  isn't  one,  it's  two,"  answered  Curly.  "  One 
for  you  each — though  I  expect  Phyl  will  take  care  of 
them  both  mostly.  They're  exactly  alike — at  least 
I  think  you'll  think  so.  I'm  just  beginning  to  know 
the  difference,  but  Bunny  doesn't  a  bit." 

"  But  what  are  these  mysterious  objects?  " 

"  Guess." 

"You  must  give  me  a  hint;  Im  lost  in  wonder. 
Are  they  alive  ?  " 

"  Oh  yes,  quite  alive ;"  and  Curly  shifted  from 
one  foot  to  another  in  suppressed  delight  and 
excitement. 

"  Old  or  young?" 


322  A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

11  Young — quite  young,  I  think  you'd  call  it." 

"Kittens,  I  suppose,"  answered  Tor.  "Nasty 
little  blind  things  with  their  eyes  shut." 

"  They  aren't  kittens,  and  their  eyes  are  as  wide 
open  as  mine,"  answered  Curly,  almost  indignantly  ; 
"  and  they  aren't  puppies  either,  or  chickens.  Now 
guess  again." 

Bunny's  face  was  by  this  time  crimson  ;  he  looked 
as  apprehensive  and  uncomfortable  as  Curly  looked 
triumphant.  Phyl  glanced  at  him  and  drew  Curly 
towards  her. 

"  Tor  is  very  bad  at  guessing,  Curly,"  she  said  ; 
"  I  think  you  had  better  tell  him  now." 

"It's  something  I  know  you  wanted  very  much," 
said  the  child,  with  the  prettiest  little  air  of  arch 
triumph  imaginable.  "  Phyl  will  love  them,  I  know, 
and  so  will  little  Tor  when  he  grows  up — I  mean 
when  he  is  old  enough  to  want  to  play.  Phyl,  the 
surprise  is  two  dear  little  brown  babies — what 
people  call  twins." 

"  WHAT  ? " 

This  one  word  broke  from  Tor  in  a  tone  that 
was  almost  a  shout.  Curly  turned  gravely  to  him 
and  spoke  in  the  same  eager  way. 

"  Two  babies,  Tor ;  such  jolly  little  laughing 
babies !  They're  prettier  than  little  Tor ;  but  we 
don't  want  Phyl  not  to  like  him  too  when  she  gets 
the  others,  because  he's  quite  a  nice  baby,  though 


A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  323 

the  brown  ones  are  rather  nicer,  and  I  think  you'll 
like  them  best.  Shall  I  run  and  fetch  them? 
You'd  like  to  see  them,  wouldn't  you  ?" 

Phyl's  face  was  buried  in  her  pocket-handker- 
chief, and  she  seemed  to  be  convulsed.  Tor  caught 
Curly  by  the  arm  as  he  was  about  to  dart  away,  and 
asked  in  an  odd,  smothered  voice, 

"  But  look  here,  old  chap,  I  don't  understand. 
You  don't  mean  that  you've  got  a  pair  of  babies 
here  on  the  spot?" 

"  Oh,  but  we  have,"  answered  Curly,  swelling  with 
importance.  "They're  up  in  the  attic  over  our 
nurseries.  I  brought  them  last  night  to  be 
ready." 

"  But  where  in  the  world  did  you  get  them  ? 
Babies  don't  grow  on  hedges." 

"  Of  course  not,"  answered  Curly,  rather  scandal- 
ised ;  "  if  they  did  they  would  not  be  expensive,  and 
people  could  have  as  many  as  they  liked  without 
buying  them.  They  came  from  the  gipsy  place  by 
the  quarries.  There's  a  woman  there  who  has 
plenty  and  didn't  mind  sending  two  away  to  a  good 
home."  Curly  had  heard  this  phrase  used  before 
with  regard  to  the  transfer  of  dogs  and  horses,  and 
brought  it  out  with  pride.  "  I  went  for  them  yes- 
terday evening,  and  they've  been  here  all  night." 

"Well,  I'm  jiggered  !" 

Tor  lay  back  in  his  chair  as  he  uttered  this  mys- 


3*4  A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

terious  phrase,  and  looked  across  at  his  wife.  Then 
he  burst  into  a  sudden  roar  of  laughter  and  said, 

"  I  say,  Phyl,  your  pair  of-  originals  have  justified 
their  name  at  last  with  a  vengeance.  Oh,  I'd  have 
given  anything  in  the  world  for  a  sight  of  her  lady- 
ship's face  when  she  was  first  confronted  with  the 
surprise." 

Curly  stood  at  Phyl's  side,  looking  from  one  to 
the  other  in  a  growing  perplexity.  Why  did  Tor 
laugh,  and  why  did  Phyl  look  so  queer?  They 
did  not  seem  vexed,  and  they  did  seem  surprised 
— but  not  quite  in  the  way  the  child  had  expected. 
And  then,  before  anything  more  could  be  said, 
the  door  opened  to  admit  Granny,  who  came  in 
with  a  very  peculiar  expression  upon  her  face. 

"  Oh,  the  boys  are  here,"  she  said.  "  I  was  wish- 
ing to  see  them.  Have  they  been  telling  you,  my 
dear,  of  the  very  wonderful  present  they  have  been 
preparing  for  you  ?  " 

"  We've  told  them,  Granny,"  answered  Curly, 
"  but  I  don't  think  they  quite  believe  us — you  see 
it  is  such  a  surprise.  Perhaps  if  you  say  it's  true 
they  will  believe  it  then." 

"  The  present,  my  dear  Phyl,"  said  Lady  Chester- 
ton, with  an  odd  little  quiver  in  her  voice,  "  seems 
to  be  two  very  brown  little  gipsy  children  some 
nine  or  ten  months  old — with  the  measles  well  out 
upon  them." 


A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  325 

"  O  Jerusalem  ! "  breathed  Tor,  softly.  "  No  won- 
der their  mother  was  so  glad  to  part  with  them  !  " 

"  The  measles ! "  echoed  Phyl  with  momentary 
dismay,  fearing  the  danger  of  infection  to  her  own 
baby  at  home ;  whilst  Curly  looked  up  eagerly  to 
say, 

"  I  didn't  know  they  had  the  measles — I'm  sure 
they  didn't  have  it  yesterday.  I  suppose  they  got 
it  when  they  turned  into  'sponsibilities.  Hannah 
did  say  something  once  about  measles  being  like 
'sponsibilities,  but  I  didn't  understand  what  she 
meant  before." 

This  very  lucid  remark  passed  unheeded.  Granny 
had  returned  to  her  seat,  and  had  called  the  two 
little  boys  to  her.  • 

"  I  want  to  know  all  about  this  business  of  the 
babies,  my  dears,  and  you  must  tell  me  the  whole 
story,  without  keeping  anything  back.  I  do  not 
think  you  intended  any  harm,  and  I  am  not  dis- 
pleased with  you.  But  it  is  not  usual  to  take  other 
people's  children  away  in  that  fashion,  even  to 
make  surprise  presents  of  them  afterwards.  So  I 
must  hear  all  about  it  before  I  can  decide  what 
must  be  done  next." 

Bunny  and  Curly  had  no  wish  to  conceal  any- 
thing. Bit  by  bit  it  all  came  out,  one  little  brother 
helping  the  other  so  as  to  make  one  consecutive 
tale.  First  the  wonder  as  to  responsibilities  which 


326  A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

they  thought  they  ought  to  begin  to  have  now, 
then  the  belief  on  Bunny's  part  that  his  responsibili. 
ties  must  lie  in  teaching  ignorant  children,  whilst 
Curly  could  not  get  it  out  of  his  head  that  they 
were  somehow  bound  up  in  babies,  and  so  he  had 
begun  cultivating  the  acquaintance  of  the  brown 
pair  who  had  been  at  last,  triumphantly  kid- 
napped. 

Bunny  told  the  whole  story  of  the  proposed 
school  and  its  lamentable  failure  with  great  humil- 
ity and  frankness ;  but  this  brought  him  to  the 
history  of  Molly  and  Pat,  whilst  it  gave  Curly  his 
opportunity  of  explaining  to  Granny  and  Phyl  his 
hopes  that  by  giving  away  these  brown  babies  to 
a  good  home  he  would  be  saving  them  from  a  life 
of  misery  and  vice  and  degradation.  Not  that  the 
little  boy  used  any  such  fine  words.  What  he  said 
was  couched  in  very  simple  language.  But  there 
was  great  earnestness  in  his  look  all  the  while,  and 
his  eyes  swam  in  sudden  tears  once  as  he  pleaded 
for  the  little  creatures  he  had  hoped  to  rescue  and 
befriend.  And  Granny's  face  did  not  look  at  all 
stern  as  the  tale  proceeded,  though  it  was  quite 
grave  and  serious.  Tor,  who  had  laughed  a  good 
deal  over  the  first  part  of  the  narrative,  was  grave 
now,  whilst  Phyl  leaned  forward  and  drew  Curly 
towards  her  to  kiss  him  as  she  said, 

"  We  will  certainly  see  what  we  can  do  for  the 


A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  327 

little  brown  babies,  Curly.  I  should  not  like  them 
to  grow  up  wicked  either." 

Tor  rose  to  his  feet  and  said, 

"  Well,  I  think  the  first  thing  is  for  me  to  go 
across  and  interview  this  outraged  virago,  who 
seems  to  have  been  robbed  of  her  young  in  a  de- 
cidedly peculiar  fashion.  I  shall  be  able  to  find 
out  from  the  people  there  how  far  these  youngsters 
are  right  in  what  they  say,  and  we'll  see  whether 
anything  can  be  done  for  that  lad,  who  appears,  by 
what  the  boys  say,  to  be  dying  fast.  They  seem 
to  be  on  your  property,  Granny ;  so  I  suppose 
you  will  wish  the  thing  looked  into  more  or 
less." 

"  Certainly  I  should.  Poor  things  !  if  they  have 
illness  there,  we  must  see  what  can  be  done  for 
them.  Those  roving  folks  are  a  great  nuisance ;  I 
wish  they  did  not  exist.  But  if  we  can't  put  a  stop 
to  their  vagrant  ways,  at  least  we  can't  let  them  die 
like  dogs  at  our  very  doors.  Go  and  inquire  into 
the  thing,  Tor,  and  let  me  know.  The  two  babies 
here  have  been  taken  to  Widow  White's  cottage 
that  stands  all  alone.  She  will  take  care  of  them 
till  they  are  well  again.  I  do  not  imagine  hardy 
children  like  them  will  have  it  badly.  I  only  hope 
these  small  philanthropists  will  not  develop  it  later 
on." 

Tor  swung  himself  off  without  more  ado,  whilst 


328  A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

Curly  looked  from  Phyl's  face  to  Granny's,  and 
asked, 

"What  is  he  going  to  do?" 

"  To  tell  the  babies'  mother  where  they  are, 
and  that  we  will  take  care  of  them  till  they  are 
well ;  and  then,  if  she  wishes  it,  they  must  go  back 
to  her." 

Curly's  face  fell  sadly. 

"  Go  back  to  her  and  grow  up  bad  !  Oh,  Granny, 
can't  Phyl  and  Tor  have  them  ?  I'm  sure  the 
woman  would  give  them  to  them  if  they  asked. 
I  believe  she'd  give  them  to  me,  and  I'd  give  them 
to  them." 

Granny  smiled  her  quiet  smile,  and  laid  her  hand 
upon  the  child's  curls  as  she  spoke. 

"  My  dear  little  man,  when  you  are  older  and 
wiser,  you  will  understand  as  you  hardly  can  do 
now,  that  it  is  neither  wise  nor  right  to  take  upon 
our  shoulders  responsibilities  that  do  not  belong 
to  us,  unless  they  are  sent  to  us  in  a  very  unmis- 
takable way.  You  are  quite  right  in  thinking  that 
babies  are  a  great  responsibility,  and  also  that,  as 
we  grow  older,  responsibilities  do  fall  upon  us  that 
we  have  to  carry  about  with  us,  whether  we  like 
them  or  not.  But  we  do  not  go  about  seeking  for 
them,  and  trying  to  get  hold  of  other  people's  and 
making  them  our  own.  I  know  you  meant  it  kindly 
— I  am  not  going  to  say  a  single  word  of  blame.  I 


A    PA  IK   OF  ORIGINALS  329 

only  caution  you  for  the  future  to  take  the  advice, 
another  time,  of  some  older  people  before  you  try 
to  take  upon  yourself  responsibilities  that  they  have 
not  given  you.  If  you  had  asked  Hannah  about 
the  babies,  she  would  have  told  you  that  it  would 
not  be  wise  to  take  them  away,  and  a  good  deal 
of  trouble  would  have  been  spared." 

Curly 's  lip  was  quivering.  It  was  kind  of  Granny 
not  to  be  cross — he  quite  felt  that,  now  that  he 
realised  (without  understanding  why)  that  his  pet 
scheme  had  turned  out  a  failure ;  but  those  nice 
brown  babies  whom  he  loved  so  very  much,  must 
they  really  go  back  to  that  fierce  woman  who  beat 
them,  and  grow  up  wild  and  wicked  like  the  rest  of 
the  children  of  the  camp  ?  He  could  not  help  it — 
the  tears  would  come,  the  disappointment  was  so 
very  keen. 

But  Phyl  seemed  to  divine  what  was  troubling 
him — Phyl,  who  was  so  kind  and  good,  and  so  fond  of 
babies  herself.  Her  arm  was  round  him  in  a  moment, 
and  she  was  whispering  sweet  words  in  his  ear. 

"  Never  mind,  Curly  darling,  we  will  see  what  can 
be  done  for  the  little  brown  babies  as  soon  as  they 
are  well  again.  I  cannot  quite  adopt  them,  as  you 
thought,  for  I  find  one  little  baby  boy  quite  as 
much  responsibility  as  I  can  manage  just  now.  But 
I  love  the  little  brown  babies,  too ;  and  I  think 
it  is  very  sweet  and  dear  of  you  to  care  for  them ; 


33°  A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

and  I  should  be  just  as  sorry  as  you  if  they  were 
sent  back  to  be  beaten  and  made  naughty.  So  we 
will  think  very  hard  what  must  be  done  about 
them.  Granny  is  very  kind — she  does  many  more 
kind  things  than  anybody  knows,  and  there  are 
nice  homes  where  little  waifs  can  be  taken  in  and 
brought  up  honest  and  good  men  and  women,  and 
Granny  has  the  right  to  nominate  children  from 
time  to  time  to  be  sent  there.  You  know  that  I 
have  plenty  of  money  of  my  own,  too — more  than 
Tor  and  I  and  little  Tor  want  for  ourselves ;  and 
if  the  mother  of  the  brown  babies  will  let  us,  per- 
haps we  can  think  of  a  plan  by  which  they  can  be 
sent  to  some  nice  place,  and  saved  from  the  wan- 
dering life  poor  Molly  and  Pat  have  found  so  bad. 
At  least,  darling,  we  will  see  what  can  be  done,  so 
do  not  cry  any  more.  It  was  a  very  nice  birthday 
present  you  tried  to  give  us,  and  it  has  all  been  a 
great  surprise — quite  as  big  a  surprise  as  ever  you 
could  have  expected.  And  if  things  don't  turn  out 
quite  as  you  thought,  you  must  not  mind  ;  and  I'm 
sure  we  shall  all  feel  that  we  have  some  responsi- 
bility in  those  brown  babies,  and  I  feel  certain  that 
they  will  be  the  gainers  by  what  you  did  for  them 
yesterday." 

Curly  was  greatly  consoled  as  he  heard  these 
words.  The  tears  were  dry  upon  his  cheek,  and  he 
looked  up  at  Phyl  with  his  beaming  smile. 


A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  331 

"  You  are  nice,"  he  said  caressingly ;  "  I  always 
said  I  knew  you  would  understand." 

"  I  ought  to  understand  about  babies,  ought  I 
not,  as  I  have  got  such  a  spoiled  specimen  of  my 
own?"  said  the  young  mother,  with  a  bright  light 
in  her  eyes.  "  I  would  go  and  see  these  two  re- 
markable infants,  only  I  am  afraid  I  might  carry 
the  measles  to  my  own  little  Tor  if  I  did." 

"  But  you'll  go  some  day?  I  should  like  you  to 
see  them.  Do  you  like  them  brown  or  white  best?" 

"  Well,  I  think  a  variety  is  nice  ;  it  would  be  dull 
if  all  babies  were  quite  alike.  Some  people  think 
they  are,  as  it  is ;  but  you  and  I  know  better." 

Curly  was  quite  happy  again  now,  and  Bunny 
was  greatly  relieved  to  have  the  explanation  over. 
He  had  felt  grave  misgivings  all  along,  though  he 
had  not  liked  to  damp  Curly's  ardour.  He  had  felt 
very  doubtful  as  to  the  success  of  the  scheme,  and 
was  glad  that  nothing  worse  had  come  of  it.  No- 
body had  been  angry  ;  and  though  plainly  this  im- 
portation of  babies  with  the  measles  had  entailed  a 
good  deal  of  trouble  and  expense  upon  other  peo- 
ple, Granny  had  been  very  kind  about  it,  and  had 
only  bidden  them  not  act  on  their  own  judgment 
again,  but  take  counsel  with  older  people,  as  Bunny 
felt  now  it  might  have  been  better  to  do  all  along. 

Tor  returned  in  about  an  hour,  as  they  were 
sitting  out  in  the  garden  under  the  shade  of  a 


332  A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

big  tree.  He  came  and  lay  down  on  the  grass 
beside  the  children,  and  tumbled  Curly  over  in 
unceremonious  fashion  enough. 

"Well,  you  young  scrapegrace,  I've  had  hard 
work  to  appease  your  virago  and  buy  her  off  from 
bringing  an  action  against  your  small  person  for 
unlawful  kidnapping  of  her  offspring.  The  fun  of 
it  was,  she  had  not  even  missed  them  till  I  apprised 
her  of  the  fact,  and  then  she  flew  into  a  fine  tan- 
trum, and  I  don't  know  what  she  wasn't  going  to  do 
to  the  person  who  had  dared  to  touch  her  blessed 
babies.  Prison  would  be  far  too  good.  Hanging 
was  the  least  they  deserved." 

Curly  stared  with  all  his  eyes.  Bunny  looked 
rather  scared. 

"  What  a  stupid,  bad  woman !  "  cried  the  former. 
"  She's  told  me  about  a  hundred  times  she  didn't 
know  what  to  do  with  her  children.  Of  course  I 
shouldn't  have  taken  them  if  she'd  wanted  them — 
Molly  said  just  the  same." 

"She  can't  hurt  Curly  really,  can  she?"  asked 
Bunny,  anxiously — "not  if  the  babies  are  sent 
back?" 

"  That  appears  to  be  about  the  last  thing  the 
virago  really  wants,"  answered  Tor,  laughing.  "As 
soon  as  I  endeavoured  to  appease  her  by  saying 
that  the  children  should  be  returned  that  very 
day,  if  she  wished  it,  or  should  be  nursed  through 


A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  333 

the  measles  and  sent  back  afterwards,  whichever 
she  preferred,  she  waxed  more  and  more  furious. 
Though  half  the  children  in  the  camp  are  down 
with  measles,  she  had  the  face  to  tell  me  that  it 
was  the  '  little  gentleman  as  stole  the  babies  as  had 
given  them  the  disease,'  and  she  went  on  to  say 
that  them  as  had  took  'em  might  keep  'em  ;  she 
wasn't  going  to  be  treated  so — to  have  her  children 
took  away  and  then  flung  back  just  like  as  if  they 
were  bales  of  goods.  She  would  have  the  law  on 
the  whole  lot  of  us,  that  she. would.  She  wasn't 
going  to  be  treated  so — not  she  ;  no  fear."  And  his 
mimicry  of  the  angry  woman  was  so  perfect  that 
Curly,  who  had  heard  the  woman  blustering  in  like 
fashion  before,  could  not  but  laugh  aloud. 

"  Well,  what  did  you  settle  ?  "  asked  Phyl. 

"  I  did  not  exactly  settle  anything,  but  pacified 
her  by  a  gift  of  a  sovereign,  and  told  her  that  some 
arrangement  satisfactory  to  all  parties  should  be 
arranged  later  on  ;  and  then  I  went  to  see  the  boy 
— that  friend  of  yours,  Bunny." 

"  Pat  ?  Oh,  I'm  glad  you  went  to  see  him. 
Wasn't  he  very  much  pleased  to  see  you  ?  " 

"  He'd  have  been  more  pleased  if  it  had  been 
somebody  else,  I  think,"  answered  Tor,  laughing, 
"  but  I  did  as  a  substitute.  Poor  chap !  something 
must  be  done  for  him,  Granny.  He's  dying  fast, 
I  should  say,  and  in  a  place  I  wouldn't  put  a  sick 


334  A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

hound  to  sleep  in.  It's  wonderfully  decorated  with 
Bunny's  handiwork ;  but  a  good  heavy  thunder- 
storm, such  as  we  might  get  any  day,  this  sultry 
weather,  would  pretty  well  wash  the  whole  place 
away  with  him  in  it." 

"  He  likes  it  better  than  hospital,  he  says,"  said 
Bunny,  eagerly.  "  He  likes  to  see  the  sky  and  hear 
the  birds  and  all  that  kind  of  thing,  you  know. 
He's  been  used  to  be  out  of  doors  all  his 
life." 

"Well,  there's  certainly  no  trouble  about  seeing 
the  sky  anywhere  in  that  place,"  answered  Tor, 
smiling ;  "  and  it's  all  very  well  for  him,  as  long  as 
you  play  the  part  of  ravens  and  bring  him  food 
every  day.  But  with  measles  raging  there,  that 
sort  of  thing  must  stop ;  and  how  is  he  to  get 
looked  after  then,  eh  ?  " 

"  I'm  not  afraid  of  the  measles,"  answered  Bunny, 
stoutly.  "  I  believe  we've  had  them — the  girls 
would  know." 

"  All  the  same,  you  won't  go  backwards  and  for- 
wards there  at  will,  young  man,"  answered  Tor, 
laughing,  "  or  I  don't  know  Granny.  Now  you 
two  shrimps  run  off  for  a  bit,  whilst  we  elders  dis- 
cuss the  situation.  You're  too  knowing  by  half. 
We  do  better  without  you  in  our  counsels." 

The  children  went  away  hand-in-hand,  in  obedi- 
ence partly  to  Tor's  words,  partly  to  a  sign  from 


A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  335 

their  grandmother.      As   they   went,  Curly  heaved 
a  big  sigh  and  said, 

"  It  isn't  a  bit  like  what  I  fancied ;  but  I  think 
it's  going  to  come  right,  somehow.  Phyl  was  very 
nice  about  the  brown  babies;  and  I  don't  quite 
know  how  it  is,  but  I  think  I'm  rather  glad  that 
I've  got  the  'sponsibility  of  them  off  my  hands 
now.  I'm  not  very  much  surprised  that  Phyl  finds 
little  Tor  enough  for  her.  When  they  were  both 
crying  together,  and  I  couldn't  make  them  under- 
stand me,  or  do  anything  I  wanted,  I  did  feel  as  if 
'sponsibilities  were  not  quite  as  nice  as  I'd  thought 
they  were  going  to  be." 


CHAPTER  XIX 

"  I'M  glad  we're  going  home  to-morrow,  Bunny," 
said  Curly. 

"  So  am  I,"  answered  Bunny ;  "  though  this  is  a 
nice  place,  and  it's  been  great  fun  having  the  sea 
to  bathe  in." 

"  Yes,  but  I  like  being  at  Granny's  best :  and 
there's  the  farm  to  see  to.  I  don't  like  being  away 
from  the  animals.  I  know  Hodges  will  take  care 
of  them,  but  I  like  doing  it  all  ourselves  best." 

"  Yes,  so  do  I,  Curly ;  I  think  perhaps  our  animals 
and  our  farm  and  our  lessons,  and  things  like  that, 
are  our  responsibilities,  and  I  shall  like  getting  back 
to  them,  too." 

Curly's  eyes  opened  wide  with  interest ;  he  looked 
questioningly  at  Bunny,  who  continued  speaking 
slowly  and  gravely. 

"  I  asked  Granny  about  responsibilities,  and  she 
said  that  they  were  the  things  that  we  were  answer- 
able for — the  things  that  belonged  to  us  and  that 
we  were  accountable  for.  Sometimes  they're  alive 

336 


A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  337 

and  sometimes  they're  not.  I  don't  know  if  I  can 
explain,  but  when  she  was  talking  I  thought  I 
understood.  We  are  partly  responsible  for  our- 
selves, Curly :  Granny  said  that  that  was  the  first 
responsibility  we  had  to  think  of — to  be  able  to 
answer  for  our  own  conduct,  to  give  an  account  of 
our  words  and  deeds,  not  to  her  exactly,  but  to 
God — at  least,  I'm  almost  sure  she  meant  that." 

Curly  drew  his  breath  hard.  The  idea  was  new, 
but  his  mind  was  prepared  to  receive  it,  and  he 
was  much  interested. 

"  I  didn't  know  I  was  a  'sponsibility  to  myself, 
but  I  don't  think  I  mind,"  he  said  ;  "  I  think  it 
might  help  me  to  remember  things.  And  what 
about  the  animals,  Bunny?" 

"  Everything  we  have  is  a  sort  of  responsibility," 
answered  Bunny.  "  Everything  we  have  which  we 
ought  to  take  care  of  is  one.  If  we  didn't  feed  our 
animals,  or  water  our  flowers,  so  that  they  died,  we 
should  be  responsible.  And  if  we  wouldn't  learn  our 
lessons  when  we  were  properly  taught,  so  that  we 
grew  up  dunces,  we  should  be  responsible  for  that. 
But  if  people  bigger  than  us,  like  papa  or  Granny, 
didn't  send  us  to  people  to  be  taught  when  we  were 
little,  and  we  grew  up  dunces  because  we  couldn't 
help  it,  then  they  would  be  responsible,  not  we." 

"  Did  Granny  say  all  that  ?  " 

"  Yes — when  I  wanted  to  know  how  lessons  could 


338  A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

be  responsibilities.  She  said  it  better  than  I  can, 
but  I  think  that's  what  she  meant.  When  we're 
here,  Hodges  has  the  responsibility  of  our  farm,  and 
if  anything  happened  it  wouldn't  be  our  fault ;  but 
when  we  go  back,  then  we  shall  have  the  respon- 
sibility again,  and  if  we  are  lazy  or  careless  and 
things  go  wrong  it  will  be  our  fault.  Children  don't 
have  so  many  responsibilities  as  grown-up  people, 
because  they  don't  have  so  many  things  depending 
on  them  ;  but  Granny  said  that  if  we  didn't  learn  to 
take  up  our  little  responsibilities  when  we  were  lit- 
tle, we  might  very  likely  not  take  up  our  big  ones 
when  we  got  big.  That  is  why,  when  she  gives  us 
things  for  the  farm,  she  is  always  so  particular  that 
we  shall  take  care  of  them  ourselves,  and  why  she 
only  gave  us  our  lease  when  she  saw  that  we  had 
worked  hard  and  taken  pains  and  she  thought  it 
would  encourage  us  to  let  us  have  it  for  our  own." 

"  I  see,"  said  Curly,  drawing  a  long  breath. 
"Well,  I'm  glad  that  we  do  have  some  'sponsibili- 
ties  of  our  own,  and  I'm  rather  glad  it  isn't  those 
brown  babies  after  all.  Bunny,  do  you  know  what 
has  been  done  about  them  ?  Have  they  gone  back 
to  their  mother  and  the  gipsies  ?  " 

"  I  don't  know,  Curly ;  perhaps  we  shall  know- 
when  we  get  home." 

"  I  wonder  if  that's  anything  to  do  with  the  sur- 
prise. Bunny,  I'm  almost  sure  there  is  going  to  be 


A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  339 

a  surprise  when  we  do  get  home.     Hannah  almost 
let  it  out  that  there  was  one." 

"  Yes,  I  know  she  has  something  she  won't  tell 
us.  Well,  to-morrow  we  shall  find  it  all  out." 

This  conversation  took  place  as  the  little  brothers 
sat  together  on  the  sands  in  a  pretty  little  secluded 
hamlet  close  beside  the  sea.  They  had  been  there 
three  weeks  with  Hannah,  and  to-morrow  were  to 
return  to  the  Priory.  It  was  mainly  on  Bunny's 
account  that  they  had  come.  Sea-air  was  recom- 
mended by  the  doctor  for  him,  and  it  had  seemed 
as  though  a  change  of  scene  would  do  him  good 
just  about  this  time. 

Bunny  had  been  a  good  deal  upset  and  troubled 
by  the  death  of  Pat,  which  had  taken  place  shortly 
after  his  removal  from  the  hut  in  the  quarry  to  a 
comfortable  cottage  where  he  had  been  placed  by 
Lady  Chesterton.  Bunny  had  visited  him  daily; 
and  although  he  had  known  that  the  lad  would  die, 
he  had  been  a  good  deal  overcome  when  the  time 
came,  and  this  had  been  an  additional  reason  for 
sending  him  away.  The  sea-breezes  and  salt  water 
had  done  much  to  invigorate  his  frame  and  bring 
back  strength  and  colour,  and  his  mind  had  re- 
covered its  usual  tone.  Pat  had  been  so  happy  to 
leave  a  world  which  had  had  little  of  sweetness  in 
it  for  him  that  Bunny  soon  grew  reconciled  to  the 
thought  of  him  at  rest  in  the  far-away  land  of  light 


34°  A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

and  peace.  He  was  beginning  now  to  look  and  to 
talk  more  in  his  old  fashion  again.  Of  late  he  had 
grown  almost  too  serious  for  his  years,  and  Curly 
was  relieved  to  find  that  his  playmate  was  not 
altogether  translated  into  a  real  "grown-up." 

This  last  week  had  been  a  very  merry  one,  and 
the  thought  of  going  home  was  of  course  delightful. 
The  little  brothers  agreed  that  they  had  had  a  very 
nice  time,  and  hoped  they  might  come  again  to  the 
sea  another  year.  They  had  made  a  good  many 
friends  amongst  the  "  fishy  men,"  as  Curly  had 
dubbed  them  ;  and  though  they  were  sometimes  a 
little  seasick  when  taken  out  in  their  boats  to  sea, — 
Bunny  especially, — yet  they  greatly  enjoyed  the 
novelty  of  the  experience,  and  were  never  daunted 
by  any  qualms  from  a  repetition  of  the  entertain- 
ment. 

They  had  been  making  a  round  of  farewell  visits 
to  all  their  friends  that  very  day,  and  now  were  just 
waiting  the  call  from  Hannah  to  say  that  tea  was 
ready.  The  house  they  lodged  in  was  so  close  to 
the  shore  that  these  yellow  sands  seemed  to  be- 
long to  them  almost  as  much  as  the  garden  at 
home. 

One  of  Curly 's  chief  objects  in  desiring  to  return 
to  the  Priory  was  to  ascertain  what  had  been  the 
fate  of  the  brown  babies.  Hannah  either  did  not 
know  or  she  would  not  tell  him.  When  he  had 


A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  341 

left  they  had  still  been  at  Widow  White's,  and  had 
been  recovering  from  the  measles  there.  He  was 
neither  allowed  to  see  them,  nor  to  go  to  the 
quarry  to  talk  to  Molly.  His  questions  had  not 
received  any  satisfactory  answers,  and  of  late  Han- 
nah had  become  both  obscure  and  oracular  when- 
ever the  subject  had  been  named.  Curly  had  a 
shrewd  suspicion  that  there  was  some  surprise  in 
store  for  him  in  regard  to  these  babies  on  his  return 
home.  He  could  not  help  feeling  a  personal  inter- 
est in  their  destiny,  and  was  by  no  means  certain 
that  he  was  not  in  some  measure  responsible  for 
their  well-being.  If  it  had  not  been  for  him,  as  he 
could  not  fail  to  see,  they  would  have  been  left  to 
the  tender  mercies  of  their  virago  mother.  If  some 
better  fate  should  be  in  store  for  them,  it  would  be 
in  a  certain  sense  the  outcome  of  his  own  action. 
Not  that  Curly  wished  to  take  to  himself  the  credit 
of  the  matter.  He  felt  that  he  had  been  very 
mercifully  treated  in  not  getting  a  round  rebuke 
for  interfering  with  other  children,  especially  when 
they  had  the  measles,  which  had  been  a  decided 
complication  in  the  case.  He  was  very  humble 
about  his  own  share  in  the  transaction,  but  he  did 
very  much  hope  that  Granny  or  Phyl,  who  were 
both  so  kind,  would  think  of  some  plan  by  which 
the  brown  babies  might  be  saved  from  the  fate  of 
the  ordinary  gipsy  child. 


342  A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

And  now  the  very  day  had  come  when  perhaps 
this  mystery  would  be  solved.  Soon  they  were  at 
the  familiar  station,  and  then  driving  along  the 
well-known  road.  Coachman  had  welcomed  them 
with  broad  grins  of  delight,  and  Curly  was  stand- 
ing up  in  the  carriage  to  ask  him  half-a-dozen 
questions  about  the  pony,  the  donkey,  the  live- 
stock generally,  from  which  he  felt  he  had  been 
separated  nearly  a  twelvemonth.  Then  almost 
everybody  they  met  upon  the  road  had  to  be 
acknowledged  as  they  bowled  rapidly  along,  and 
Curly,  sinking  back  into  his  seat  at  last,  fanned 
himself  with  his  cap  and  said, 

"  Yes,  it's  very  nice  to  be  home  again "  (the 
little  brothers  had  long  given  to  the  Priory  the 
name  of  home,  to  the  exclusion  of  any  other  place), 
"but  it  makes  one  very  hot  and  thirsty.  I  hope 
tea  will  be  ready  by  the  time  we  get  there." 

"Suppose  you  stop  at  the  dairy  and  ask  for  a 
drink  of  milk  there,  and  then  run  home  across 
the  field,"  suggested  Hannah,  with  a  broad  smile 
upon  her  face.  The  idea  was  pleasant  to  Curly, 
who  was  growing  tired  of  the  monotony  of  travel- 
ling ;  but  Bunny  looked  up  to  say  doubtfully, 

"  But  isn't  there  a  new  woman  at  the  dairy  ? 
Didn't  Betty  get  married  just  after  we  went  away  ? 
I  know  Granny  was  looking  out  for  somebody 
else  to  take  her  place.  If  it's  a  new  woman,  she 


A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  343 

won't  know  us,  and  perhaps  she  won't  give  us 
the  milk." 

"  Oh,  I  think  she  will,  if  you  say  where  you  be- 
long," answered  Hannah;  "and  I  think  you'll  find 
somebody  there  that  you  know.  I've  been  away 
myself,  so  I  don't  know  everything  ;  but  I'm  sure 
you  could  get  your  milk  there,  dearies." 

That  was  quite  assurance  enough,  and  Curly  gave 
the  order  for  the  carriage  to  be  stopped  at  the 
dairy,  which  was  about  half  a  mile  by  road  from 
the  Priory,  though  only  a  quarter  across  the  fields 
by  the  foot-path.  The  little  brothers  sprang  gaily 
out,  and  waving  their  hats  to  Hannah,  declared 
they  would  be  at  home  almost  as  soon  as  she  was  ; 
then  taking  each  other  by  the  hand,  they  ran  up  the 
familiar  flagged  walk  to  the  cool,  clean  dairy  with 
its  rose-covered  cottage  beneath  the  same  roof, 
and  came  face  to  face  round  a  sharp  corner  with — 
Molly. 

But  what  a  different  Molly  from  the  old  one! 
Curly  fairly  gasped  with  astonishment  as  he  met 
the  unmistakable  dancing  light  of  those  merry  dark 
eyes.  This  was  a  Molly  neat  and  trim,  in  a  nice 
print  frock,  with  a  short  mop  of  curly  hair  that 
was  well  brushed  and  combed,  and  as  tidy  as  its  re- 
bellious nature  would  allow.  The  beaming  face  was 
as  clean  as  the  frock  and  the  hair,  and  the  smile 
was  sunshine  itself. 


344  A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

"  Molly ! "    cried     both    children    in     a    breath. 
"Molly,  what  are  you  doing  here?" 

"Sure  and  it's  meself  that  is  at  home  here," 
answered  Molly,  glowing  and  dimpling  with  delight. 
"  It's  me  aunt — father's  sister — that  has  got  the 
place  of  dairy-woman  to  her  ladyship.  You  saw 
her  once,  little  masters,  when  she  came  to  see  poor 
Pat.  Well,  when  it  came  out  that  she  had  had 
the  best  dairy  in  the  ould  country,  and  had  kept 
it  years  and  years  until  the  old  lord  died  and  the 
family  changed  and  went  away,  faith  if  her  lady- 
ship didn't  say  she  would  try  her  here :  and  it's 
beautiful  butter  we  make,  though  I  say  it.  And 
I'm  here  to  help  her  clean  and  scour — bless  me, 
what  a  deal  of  cleaning  a  dairy  does  want,  to  be 
sure!  And  I  look  after  the  babies,  too — your 
babies,  little  master.  Would  you  like  to  see  them, 
the  dears?  Aunt  Norah  she  loves  them  like  her 
own,  and  wouldn't  have  them  go  back  to  the  other 
folks,  not  for  worlds.  And  father  said  if  she 
would  take  them  and  bring  them  up,  he  would 
work  hard  and  pay  her  all  he  could,  and  her  lady- 
ship has  been  just  as  kind  as  kind.  Poor  father 
was  terrible  cut  up  when  Pat  died,  though  sure  he 
must  have  known  it  was  coming.  He  was  right 
glad  to  let  me  come  to  Aunt  Norah,  and  the  babies 
too ;  and  mother  she  made  no  manner  of  trouble 
about  it.  And  Aunt  Norah  is  a  real  good  one 


A   PAIR    OF  ORIGINALS  345 

and  says  she'd  like  the  whole  lot  of  us,  as  far  as 
that  goes — " 

But  Curly  stayed  to  hear  no  more,  for  he  had 
heard  a  familiar  sound,  and  had  darted  off  to  find 
the  brown  babies  rolling  over  and  over  in  a. little 
patch  of  sunlight  which  lay  softly  upon  the  bit  of 
grass  beside  the  cottage,  whilst  a  woman  whose 
face  he  just  remembered  to  have  seen  before  sat 
at  work  with  one  eye  upon  the  vagaries  of  the 
little  ones. 

The  next  minute  Curly  was  rolling  beside  them, 
renewing  acquaintance  in  his  own  fashion,  whilst 
the  dark-eyed  Irishwoman,  in  voluble  terms  and 
with  a  rich  and  not  unmusical  brogue,  was  pour- 
ing out  a  long  history  into  his  half-attentive  ears, 
interspersing  it  with  a  hundred  tender  expletives 
addressed  partly  to  him  and  partly  to  the  brown 
babies,  who  evidently  regarded  her  as  an  immense 
improvement  upon  their  own  mother. 

No  arrangement  could  have  been  more  perfectly 
satisfactory  and  delightful.  The  children  were 
not  with  strangers,  but  with  a  near  relation  who 
had  a  heart  warm  with  love  for  them,  and  who 
claimed  the  right  to  adopt  her  brother's  babies  as 
her  own  if  he  was  willing  to  let  her  do  so.  Molly 
was  well  worth  her  keep,  for  she  was  a  strong, 
active  girl,  and  was  fast  learning  to  be  invaluable 
to  her  aunt,  who  would  have  required  some  assist- 


346  A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

ance  with  her  dairy-work.  Lady  Chesterton  had 
secured  the  services  of  a  thoroughly  capable 
woman,  and  Norah's  butter  was  admitted  on  all 
hands  to  be  the  best  the  Priory  had  ever  known. 

The  little  boys  drank  their  milk,  listening  eagerly 
to  the  voluble  Irish  talk  of  Norah,  which  Molly  was 
fast  learning  to  imitate,  and  then,  with  a  happy, 
lingering  look  at  the  little  family  party,  the  brothers 
took  hands  and  scampered  across  the  fields  together 
as  fast  as  their  legs  would  carry  them. 

"  Isn't  it  nice  ?  "  panted  Curly,  as  they  reached 
the  familiar  gate  by  which  the  garden  could  be 
entered,  and  swung  themselves  over  to  plunge 
through  the  shrubberies  and  so  to  the  lawns  and 
flower-garden  surrounding  the  house.  Generally 
they  kept  to  their  own  more  secluded  paths,  but 
to-day  they  knew  they  would  be  privileged  to  go 
and  seek  Granny  wherever  she  was.  Most  likely 
she  would  be  out  on  the  terrace  having  her  tea; 
and  there  they  proceeded  to  look  for  her,  Curly 
beaming  and  brimming  over  with  delight,  whilst 
Bunny  agreed  heartily  that  it  was  the  nicest 
thing  that  could  possibly  have  happened. 

"  There  they  are ! "  cried  Curly,  waving  his  hat 
excitedly.  "  There's  Granny ;  and  she's  got  Phyl 
and  Tor  with  her,  too." 

"So  she  has.  How  jolly!  Perhaps  they  are 
staying  with  her  whilst  we  are  away." 


A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  347 

"  Perhaps  they  have  come  to  see  us.  I  don't 
care  which  it  is,  but  it's  awfully  nice  to  see  them 
all  again." 

Flushed  and  hot  and  panting,  but  infinitely  happy, 
the  little  brothers  dashed  onward,  and  almost  flung 
themselves  into  Granny's  arms,  they  were  really 
so  pleased  to  see  her  again.  The  greeting  they 
received  was  none  the  less  affectionate  from  its 
being  a  little  stately,  and  Phyl  and  Tor  seemed 
almost  as  pleased  to  have  the  children  back  as 
they  were  to  be  there.  And  it  was  plain  that  they 
were  expected  to  drink  tea  with  the  elders  as  a 
special  privilege,  and  there  was  a  nice  little  table  set 
with  piles  of  strawberries  upon  it  and  a  jug  of  rich 
cream.  There  were  the  cakes,  too,  which  Cookie 
well  knew  were  their  especial  favourites.  And  in  a 
very  few  minutes  the  little  brothers  were  discussing 
this  luxurious  tea  and  eagerly  asking  and  telling  the 
news,  but  fuller  than  anything  of  the  delightful 
surprise  which  had  met  them  up  at  the  dairy,  and 
the  excellent  way  in  which  everything  had  been 
arranged. 

"  Without  your  valuable  assistance,"  chimed  in 
Tor.  "  Yes,  that  was  the  most  wonderful  part  of  it 
all — how  ever  we  came  to  think  of  anything  so  good 
without  that  head-piece  of  yours,  Curly.  I  can 
assure  you  I  felt  the  responsibility  of  my  position 
when  I  had  not  you  to  come  to  for  advice  and 


A    PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS 

assistance.  I  am  glad  your  lordship  approves  what 
has  been  done." 

Curly  blushed,  as  he  often  did,  whilst  Phyl 
chimed  in  merrily, 

"I  won't  have  my  pair  of  originals  teased  any 
more  about  their  responsibilities.  They  made  us 
a  very  delightful  present,  I  am  sure,  on  our  birth- 
day, and  it's  quite  right  we  should  have  settled 
something  satisfactory  with  regard  to  it." 

Curly  looked  up  quickly,  the  flush  still  upon  his 
face,  his  golden  curls  shining  very  brightly  in  the 
sun — a  perfect  picture  of  glowing,  childish  beauty. 

"  I've  heard  people  say  that  before,  but  I  don't 
know  what  it  means.  What  are  '  originals '  ? — 
Are  they  anything  like  'sponsibilities  ?  " 

"  Ask  Granny,"  suggested  Tor,  whilst  he  and 
Phyl  both  laughed,  and  Curly  turned  his  flushed 
face  towards  the  stately  old  lady,  who  was  regard- 
ing him  with  a  smile  which  was  more  tender  than 
she  perhaps  knew. 

"  My  dear  little  boys,"  she  answered  gravely, 
but  very  kindly,  "  you  need  not  trouble  your  heads 
over  long  words  and  ideas  almost  too  big  for  them. 
If  my  pair  of  originals  has  entailed  upon  me  some 
unexpected  responsibilities  too,  I  have  been  very 
willing  to  undertake  them,  and  I  shall  look  in  the 
days  to  come  to  reap  my  reward." 

Bunny's  eyes  met  hers  with  a  quick  look  of  what 


A   PAIR   OF  ORIGINALS  349 

was  very  like  comprehension.  Taking  Curly  by  the 
hand,  he  approached  the  stately  old  lady,  and 
lifting  his  face  for  a  kiss,  he  said, 

"  Granny  dear,  indeed  we  do  know  how  very, 
very  good  you  have  alway  been  to  us,  and  we 
will  try  hard  to  please  you  always.  We  do  mean 
to  be  as  good  as  ever  we  know  how." 

"  And  more  nobody  could  expect  of  you,  my 
dears,"  answered  Granny,  stooping  to  kiss  each 
face  in  turn.  "  And  now  you  can  run  away  to 
Hannah." 

"Who  knows,"  concluded  Tor's  lazy,  teasing 
voice,  as  the  little  brothers  obeyed  this  injunction, 
"as  much  about  the  responsibility  of  originals  as 
anybody  else  in  the  world,  I  imagine." 


THE    END. 


ii2  FOURTH  AVENUE,  NEW  YORK. 
OCTOBER,  1891. 

MACMILLAN  &  CO.'S 

CATALOGUE 

OF 

BOOKS   FOR  THE  YOUNG. 


Messrs.  MACMILLAN  &>  CO.  are  the  agents  in  the  United 
States  for  the  publications  of  the  Oxford  and  Cambridge  Univer- 
sity Presses,  and  for  Messrs.  George  Bell  &"  Sons,  London. 
Complete  catalogues  of  all  books  sold  by  them  will  be  sent,  free 
by  mail,  to  any  address  on  application. 


ADVENTURE    SERIES,   THE.      Large  I2mo.     Fully  Illus- 
trated.    $1.50  each  volume. 

Adventures  of  a  Younger  Son.  By  JOHN  EDWARD  TRE- 
LAWNY.  With  an  Introduction  by  EDWARD  GARNETT. 

Madagascar;  or,  Robert  Drury's  Journal  During  Fifteen 
Years'  Captivity  on  that  Island,  and  a  Further  Descrip- 
tion of  Madagascar  by  the  Abbe"  ALEXIS  ROCHON.  Edited, 
with  an  Introduction  and  Notes,  by  Captain  S.  PASFIELD 
OLIVER,  F.S.A.,  author  of  "  Madagascar." 

Memoirs  of  the  Extraordinary  Military  Career  of  John 
Shipp,  Late  Lieutenant  in  His  Majesty's  87th  Regiment. 
Written  by  Himself.  With  an  Introduction  by  Major 
H.  M.  CHICHESTER. 

The  Adventures  of  Thomas  Fellow,  of  Penryn,  Mariner, 
Twenty-three  Years  in  Captivity  among  the  Moors.  Writ- 
ten by  Himself;  and  Edited,  with  an  Introduction  and 
Notes,  by  Dr.  ROBERT  BROWN.  Illustrated  from  Con- 
temporaneous Prints. 


MACMILLAN  &>    CO.'S 


The  Buccaneers  and  Marooners  of  America.  Being  an 
Account  of  the  Famous  Adventures  and  Daring  Deeds 
of  Certain  Notorious  Freebooters  of  the  Spanish  Main. 
Edited  and  Illustrated  by  HOWARD  PYLE. 

The  Log  of  a  Jack  Tar;  or,  The  Life  of  James  Choyce, 
Master  Mariner.  Now  first  published,  with  O'Brien's 
Captivity  in  France.  Edited  by  Commander  V.  LOVETT 
CAMERON,  R.N.,  C.B.,  D.C.L.  With  Introduction  and 
Notes. 

The  Story  of  the  Filibusters.  By  JAMES  JEFFREY  ROCHE. 
To  which  is  added  "  The  Life  of  Colonel  David  Crockett." 
With  Illustrations. 

"  Mr.  Roche  has  faithfully  compared  and  sifted  the  statements  of  those 
who  took  part  in  the  various  expeditions,  and  he  has  also  made  effectual 
use  of  periodicals  and  official  documents.  The  result  is  what  may  safely 
be  regarded  as  the  first  complete  and  authentic  account  of  the  deeds  of  the 
modern  Vikings,  who  continue  to  be  wonderfully  romantic  figures  even 
after  the  gaudy  trappings  of  myth,  prejudice,  and  fiction  have  been  stripped 
away." — Boston  Beacon, 

The  Voyages  and  Adventures  of  Ferdinand  Mendez  Pinto, 
the  Portuguese.  Done  into  English  by  HENRY  COGAN, 
with  an  Introduction  by  ARMINIUS  VAMB£RY. 

"  It  is  decidedly  reading  of  the  most  attractive  kind,  brimful  of  adven- 
ture piquantly  related,  and  of  rare  interest  in  its  recital  of  the  experiences 
of  the  author,  who  '  five  times  suffered  shipwreck,  was  sixteen  times  sold, 
and  thirteen  times  made  a  slave."  "  —  Boston  Saturday  Evening  Gazette. 

A  Master  Mariner.  Being  the  Life  and  Adventures  of  Cap- 
tain Robert  William  Eastwick.  Edited  by  HERBERT 
COMPTON.  With  Illustrations. 

Hard  Life  in  the  Colonies,  and  Other  Adventures  by  Sea 
and  Land.  Now  first  printed.  Compiled  from  Private 
Letters  by  C.  CASLYON  JENKYNS.  With  Illustrations. 
Large  I2tno.  $1.50. 

JBSOP'S  FABLES.     Illustrated.     50  cents. 

ANDERSEN  (HANS  CHRISTIAN).  Fairy  Tales  and  Sketches. 
Translated  by  C.  C.  PEACHY,  H.  WARD,  A.  PLESNER, 
etc.  With  numerous  Illustrations  by  OTTO  SPECKTER 
and  others.  Seventh  thousand.  Handsomely  bound.  I2mo. 
$1.50. 

"  The  translation  most  happily  hits  the  delicate  quaintness  of  Andersen  — 
most  happily  transposes  into  simple  English  words  the  tender  precision  of 
the  famous  story-teller;  in  a  keen  examination  of  the  book  we  scarcely  re- 
call a  single  phrase  or  turn  that  obviously  could  have  been  bettered."  — 
Daily  Telegraph. 


BOOKS  FOR   TtiE  YOUNG, 


Tales  for  Children.  With  48  Full-page  Illustrations  by 
WEHNERT,  and  57  small  Engravings  on  wood  by  W. 
THOMAS.  Thirteenth  thousand.  Handsomely  bound. 
I2mo.  $1.50. 

This  volume  contains  several  tales  that  are  in  no  other  edition 
published  in  this  country,  and  with  the  preceding  volume  it  forms 
the  most  complete  English  edition. 

ARIOSTO.  Paladin  and  Saracen.  Stories  from  Ariosto.  By 
W.  C.  HOLLWAY-CALTHROP.  With  Illustrations.  $1.50. 

ATKINSON.  The  Last  of  the  Giant  Killers.  By  the  Rev.  J. 
C.  ATKINSON,  author  of  "A  Moorland  Parish."  Shortly. 

AWDRY  (F.).  The  Story  of  a  Fellow  Soldier.  A  Life  of 
Bishop  Patteson  for  the  Young.  i6mo.  $1.00. 

BAKER.  Wild  Beasts  and  Their  Ways.  Reminiscences  in 
Asia,  Africa,  and  America.  By  Sir  SAMUEL  W.  BAKER, 
F.R.S.,  etc.,  author  of  "Albert  Nyanza,"  etc.  With  numer- 
ous Illustrations.  Large  I2mo.  Cloth  extra.  Gilt.  $3.50. 

"  A  book  which  is  destined  not  only  to  serve  as  a  chart  and  compass 
for  every  hunter  of  big  game,  but  which  is  likewise  a  valuable  study  of 
natural  history,  placed  before  the  public  in  a  practical  and  interesting  form." 
—  New  York  Tribune. 

BEESLY  (Mrs.).  Stories  from  the  History  of  Rome.  i6mo. 
60  cents. 

"  Of  all  the  stories  we  remember  from  history  none  have  struck  us 
as  so  genuinely  good  —  with  the  right  ring  —  as  those  of  Mrs.  Beesly."  — 
Educational  Times. 

BERTZ  (E.).     The  French  Prisoners:    A  Story  for  Boys. 

$1.25. 

"  Written  throughout  in  a  wise  and  gentle  spirit,  and  omits  no  oppor- 
tunity to  deprecate  war  as  a  barbaric  survival,  wholly  unnecessary  in  a 
civilized  age."  —  Independent. 

"  The  story  is  an  extremely  interesting  one,  full  of  incident,  told  in  a 
quiet,  healthful  way,  and  with  a  great  deal  of  pleasantly  interfused  informa- 
tion about  German  and  French  boys."  —  Christian  Union. 

BUNCE  (J.  T.).  Fairy  Tales:  Their  Origin  and  Meaning. 
i6mo.  75  cents. 

CARPENTER.   Truth  in  Tale.    Addresses  Chiefly  to  Children. 

By  W.  BOYD  CARPENTER,  D.D.,  Bishop  of  Ripon.   $1.00. 

"  These  ingenious  and  interesting  tales  by  Bishop  Carpenter  are  full  of 

poetic  beauty  and  of  religious  truth.  .  .  .  We  would  like  to  see  a  copy  in 

every  Sunday-school  library."  —  Sunday  School  Banner. 


MACMTLLAN  &>   CO.'S 


CARROLL.    WORKS  BY  LEWIS  CARROLL. 

Alice's  Adventures  in  Wonderland.  With  42  Illustrations 
by  TENNIEL.  12010.  $1.00. 

A  German  Translation.     I2mo.     $2.00. 
A  French  Translation.     I2mo.     $2.00. 

An  Italian  Translation.     I2mo.     $2.00. 
"  An  excellent  piece  of  nonsense."  —  Times. 
"That  most  delightful  of  children's  stories."  —  Saturday  Review. 
"  Elegant  and  delicious  nonsense." —  Guardian. 

Through  the  Looking-glass  and  What  Alice  Found  There. 
50  Illustrations  by  TENNIEL.  I2mo.  $1.00. 

"Will  fairly  rank  with  the  tale  of  her  previous  experience."  —  Daily 
Telegraph. 

"  Many  of  Mr.  Tenniel's  designs  are  masterpieces  of  wise  absurdity." 
—  Athencsum. 

"  Whether  as  regarding  author  or.  illustrator,  this  book  is  a  jewel  rarely 
to  be  found  nowadays."  —  Echo. 

Alice's  Adventures  in  Wonderland  and  Through  the  Look- 
ing Glass.  In  i  vol.  With  TENNIEL'S  Illustrations.  i2mo. 
$1.25. 

Rhyme  ?  and  Reason  ?  With  65  Illustrations  by  ARTHUR 
B.  FROST,  and  nine  by  HENRY  HOLIDAY.  12010.  $1.50. 

This  book  is  a  reprint,  with  additions,  of  the  comic  portions 
of  "Phantasmagoria,  and  other  Poems,"  and  of  the  "Hunting 
of  the  Snark." 

A  Tangled  Tale.  Reprinted  from  the  "  Monthly  Packet." 
With  Illustrations.  I2mo.  $1.50. 

Alice's  Adventures  under  Ground.  Being  a  Fac-simile  of  the 

original   MS.  Book    afterward  developed    into    "Alice's 

Adventures    in    Wonderland."  With    37    Illustrations. 
I2mo.     $1.50. 

The  Hunting  of  the  Snark :  An  Agony  in  Eight  Fits.  By 
LEWIS  CARROLL.  With  nine  Illustrations  by  HENRY 
HOLIDAY.  New  Edition.  12010.  $1.00. 

Sylvie  and  Bruno.  With  46  Illustrations  by  HARRY  FUR- 
NISS.  i2mo.  $1.50. 

"  Alice  was  a  delightful  little  girl,  but  hardly  more  pleasing  than  are 
the  hero  and  heroine  of  this  latest  book  from  a  writer  in  whose  nonsense 
there  is  far  more  sense  than  in  the  serious  works  of  many  contemporary 
authors."  —  Morning  Post. 

"  Mr.  Furniss's  illustrations,  which  are  numerous,  are  at  once  graceful 


BOOKS  FOR  THE  YOUNG. 


and  full  of  humor.  We  pay  him  a  high  compliment  when  we  say  he 
proves  himself  a  worthy  successor  to  Mr.  Tenniel  in  illustrating  Mr.  Lewis 
Carroll's  books."  — St.  James'  Gazette. 

The  Nursery  "Alice."  Containing  20  coloured  enlarge- 
ments from  TENNIEL'S  Illustrations  to  "  Alice's  Adven- 
tures in  Wonderland,"  with  Text  adapted  to  Nursery 
Readers,  by  LEWIS  CARROLL.  410.  $1.50. 

"  Let  the  little  people  rejoice !  the  most  charming  book  in  the  world  has 
appeared  for  them.  '  The  Nursery  Alice,'  with  its  wealth  of  colored  illus- 
trations from  Tenniel's  Pictures,  is  certainly  the  most  artistic  juvenile  that 
has  been  seen  for  many  and  many  a  day."  —  Boston  Budget. 

CHURCH.    WORKS  BY  THE  REV.  A.  J.  CHURCH. 

The  Story  of  the  Iliad.    With  Coloured  Illustrations.   i2mo. 

$1.00. 
The  Story  of  the  Odyssey.     With  Coloured  Illustrations. 

I2mo.     $1.00. 
Stories  from  the  Bible.    With  Illustrations   after  JULIUS 

SCHNORR.       I2mo.      $I.SO. 

"Of  all  the  books  of  this  kind,  this  is  the  best  we  have  seen."  — 
Examiner. 

"  The  book  will  be  of  infinite  value  to  the  student  or  teacher  of  the 
Scriptures,  and  the  stories  are  well  arranged  for  interesting  reading  for 
children."  —  Boston  Traveller. 

Stories  from  Bible.     Illustrated.     Second  Series.     Shortly. 

The  Greek  Gulliver.  Stories  from  Lucian.  With  Illustra- 
tions by  C.  O.  MURRAY.  New  edition.  i6mo.  Paper. 
40  cents. 

"A  curious  example  of  ancient  humor." —  Chicago  Standard. 

The  Burning  of  Rome.  A  Story  of  the  Times  of  Nero. 
With  Illustrations.  I2mo.  $1.00. 

CLIFFORD  (Mrs.  W.  K.).    Anyhow  Stories,  Moral  and  Other- 
wise.    With  Illustrations.    $1.00. 

CRAIK.    WORKS  BY  MRS.  CRAIK,  author  of  "John  Halifax, 
Gentleman." 

Sermons  out  of  Church.    New  Edition.    I2mo.    $1.75. 
Children's  Poetry.    Globe  8vo.    $1.25. 

The  Little  Lame  Prince  and  His  Travelling  Cloak.  A 
Parable  for  Young  and  Old.  With  Illustrations.  I2mo. 

$1.25. 

Little  Sunshine's  Holiday.    Globe  8vo.    $1.00. 


MACMILLAN  &•    CO.'S 


Adventures  of  a  Brownie.  With  Illustrations.    i6mo.   $1.00. 

Alice  Learmont.    A  Fairy  Tale.    With  Illustrations.    i6mo. 
$1.00. 

Our  Year :  a  Child's  Book.    Illustrated.     i6mo.    $1.00. 

The  Fairy  Book.    The  Best  Popular  Fairy  Stories.    Selected 
and  rendered  anew.  Golden  Treasury  Series.  iSmo.  $1.25. 

DEFOE.  The  Adventures  of  Robinson  Crusoe.  Edited  from 
the  Original  Edition  by  HENRY  KINGSLEY.  Globe  Edition. 

$1.25. 

Golden  Treasury  Series.     i8mo.     $1.00. 

DE  MORGAN.  The  Necklace  of  Princess  Florimonde,  and 
other  Stories.  By  MARY  DE  MORGAN.  Illustrated  by 
WALTER  CRANE.  New  and  cheaper  Edition,  cloth  extra. 

$1.25. 

"  The  stories  display  considerable  originality,  and  Mr.  Walter  Crane's 
characteristic  illustrations  combine  with  Miss  De  Morgan's  pretty  fancies 
in  forming  a  charming  gift-book."  —  Graphic. 

"  A  real  gem."  —  Punch. 

ENGLISH  MEN  OF  ACTION  SERIES.  i2mo.  Cloth,  limp, 
60  cents  ;  cloth,  uncut  edges,  75  cents. 

"  An  admirable  set  of  brief  biographies.  .  .  .  The  volumes  are  small, 
attractive,  and  inexpensive."  —  Dial. 

"  The  '  English  Men  of  Action '  promises  to  be  a  notable  series  of  short 
biographies.  The  subjects  are  well  chosen,  and  the  authors  almost  as  well." 
—  Epoch. 

Gordon.     By  Col.  Sir  W.  BUTLER. 

Henry  the  Fifth.    By  the  Rev.  A.  J.  CHURCH. 

Livingstone.    By  THOMAS  HUGHES. 

Lord  Lawrence.    By  Sir  R.  TEMPLE. 

Wellington.    By  GEORGE  HOOPER. 

Dampier.    By  W.  CLARK  RUSSELL. 

Monk.    By  JULIAN  CORBETT. 

Strafford.     By  H.  D.  TRAILL. 

Warren  Hastings.    By  Sir  ALFRED  LYALL,  K.C.B. 

Peterborough.    By  WILLIAM  STEBBING. 

Captain  Cook.    By  WALTER  BESANT. 

Havelock.    By  ARCHIBALD  FORBES. 


BOOKS  FOR  THE   YOUNG. 


Clive.     By  Col.  Sir  CHARLES  WILSON. 

Drake.    By  JULIAN  CORBETT. 

Warwick,  the  King  Maker.    By  C.  W.  OMAN. 

Napier.     By  Col.  Sir  WILLIAM  BUTLER. 

Rodney.     By  D.  G.  H  ANN  AY. 

Montrose.     By  MOWBRAY  MORRIS.    Shortly. 

EWING  (J.  H.).  We  and  the  World.  A  Story  for  Boys.  By 
the  late  JULIANA  HORATIO  EWING.  With  seven  Illustra- 
tions by  W.  L.  Jones,  and  a  Pictorial  Design  on  the  Cover. 
4th  Edition.  i2mo.  $1.06. 

Cheap    Illustrated   Edition.     4to.     In  paper  boards, 
35  cents. 

"  A  very  good  book  it  is,  full  of  adventure  graphically  told.  The  style 
is  just  what  it  should  be;  simple  but  not  bold,  full  of  pleasant  humor,  and 
with  some  pretty  touches  of  feeling.  Like  all  Mrs.  Ewing's  tales,  it  is 
sound,  sensible,  and  wholesome."  —  Times. 

A  Flat  Iron  for  a  Farthing ;  or,  Some  Passages  in  the  Life 
of  an  Only  Son.  With  12  Illustrations  by  H.  ALLING- 
HAM,  and  Pictorial  Design  on  the  Cover.  i6th  Edition. 
i2mo.  $1.00. 

Cheap    Illustrated   Edition.     4to.     In   paper  boards, 
35  cents. 

"  Let  every  parent  and  guardian  who  wishes  to  be  amused,  and  at  the 
same  time  to  please  a  child,  purchase  '  A  Flat  Iron  for  a  Farthing ;  or, 
Some  Passages  in  the  Life  of  an  Only  Son,'  by  J.  H.  Ewing.  We  will 
answer  for  the  delight  with  which  they  will  read  it  themselves,  and  we  do 
not  doubt  that  the  young  and  fortunate  recipients  will  also  like  it  The 
story  is  quaint,  original,  and  altogether  delightful."  — Athenceum. 

Mrs.  Overtheway's  Remembrances.  Illustrated  with  nine 
fine  full-page  Engravings  by  PASQUIER,  and  Frontispiece  by 
WOLF,  and  Pictorial  Design  on  the  Cover.  4th  Edition. 
I2mo.  $1.00. 

Cheap    Illustrated   Edition.     4to.     In  paper  boards, 
35  cents. 

"  It  is  not  often  nowadays  the  privilege  of  a  critic  to  grow  enthusiastic 
over  a  new  work ;  and  the  rarity  of  the  occasion  that  calls  forth  the  delight 
is  apt  to  lead  one  into  the  sin  of  hyperbole.  And  yet  we  think  we  shall  not 
be  accused  of  extravagance  when  we  say  that,  without  exception,  '  Mrs. 
Overtheway's  Remembrances  '  is  the  most  delightful  work  avowedly  written 
for  children  that  we  have  ever  read."  —  Leader. 

Six  to  Sixteen.  A  Story  for  Girls.  With  10  Illustrations- 
by  Mrs.  ALLINGHAM.  7th  Edition.  i2mo.  $1.00. 


8  MACMILLAN  &•    CO.'S 

Cheap   Illustrated   Edition.     4to.     In   paper  boards, 
35  cents. 

"  It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  say  that  Mrs.  Ewing's  book  is  one  of  the 
best  of  the  year."  —  Saturday  Review. 

A  Great  Emergency.  (A  very  Ill-Tempered  Family;  Our 
Field ;  Madame  Liberality.)  With  four  Illustrations.  3d 
Edition.  I2mo.  $1.00. 

Cheap  Illustrated  Edition.     4to.     In  paper  boards,  35 
cents. 

"  Never  has  Mrs.  Ewing  published  a  more  charming  volume  of  stories, 
and  that  is  saying  a  very  great  deal.  From  the  first  to  the  last  the  book 
overflows  with  the  strange  knowledge  of  child-nature  which  so  rarely  sur- 
vives childhood;  and,  moreover,  with  inexhaustible  quiet  humor,  which 
is  never  anything  but  innocent  and  well-bred,  never  priggish,  and  never 
clumsy."  —  Academy. 

Jan  of  the  Windmill.  A  Story  of  the  Plains.  With  n 
Illustrations  by  Mrs.  ALLINGHAM  and  design  on  the  cover. 
5th  Edition.  I2mo.  $1.00. 

Cheap  Illustrated  Edition.     4to.     In  paper  boards,  35 
cents. 

"  The  life  and  its  surroundings,  the  incidents  of  Jan's  childhood,  are 
described  with  Mrs.  Ewing's  accustomed  skill;  the  village  schoolmaster, 
the  miller's  wife,  and  the  other  children,  are  extremely  well  done." 

Melchior's  Dream.  (The  Blackbird's  Nest ;  Friedrich's  Bal- 
lad ;  A  Bit  of  Green ;  Monsieur  the  Viscount's  Friend ; 
The  Yew  Lane  Ghosts ;  A  Bad  Habit ;  A  Happy  Family.) 
With  eight  Illustrations  by  GORDON  BROWNE.  6th  Edi- 
tion. I2mo.  $1.00. 

Cheap  Illustrated  Edition.     4to.     In  paper  wrapper, 
35  cents. 

" '  Melchior's  Dream '  is  an  exquisite  little  story,  charming  by  original 
humor,  buoyant  spirits,  and  tender  pathos."  —  Athenceum. 

Lob-lie-by-the-fire;  or,  the  Luck  of  Lingborough,  and  Other 
Tales.  With  three  Illustrations  by  GEORGE  CRUIKSHANK. 
4th  Edition.  i6mo.  $1.00. 

"  Mrs.  Ewing  has  written  as  good  a  story  as  her  '  Brownies,'  and  that 
is  saying  a  great  deal.  '  Lob-lie-by-the-fire '  has  humor  and  pathos,  and 
teaches  what  is  right  without  making  children  think  they  are  reading  a 
sermon."  —  Saturday  Review. 

The  Brownies.  (The  Land  of  Lost  Toys;  Three  Christ- 
mas Trees ;  An  Idyl  of  the  Wood ;  Christmas  Crackers  ; 
Amelia  and  the  Dwarfs ;  Timothy's  Shoes ;  Benjy  in 
Beastland.)  Illustrated  by  GEORGE  CRUIKSHANK.  7th 
Edition.  i6mo.  $1.00. 


BOOKS  FOR   THE   YOUNG. 


Cheap   Illustrated  Edition.     Fcap.     4to.     In  paper 
wrapper,  35  cents. 

"  If  a  child  once  begins  '  The  Brownies,'  it  will  get  so  deeply  interested 
in  it  that  when  bedtime  comes  it  will  altogether  forget  the  moral,  and  will 
weary  its  parents  with  importunities  for  just  a  few  minutes  more  to  see  how 
everything  ends."  —  Saturday  Review. 

FREILIGRATH-KROEKER.  Alice,  and  other  Fairy  Plays  for 
Children,  including  a  Dramatised  Version  (under  sanction) 
of  Lewis  Carroll's  "Alice  in  Wonderland,"  and  three 
other  Plays.  By  Mrs.  FREILIGRATH-KROEKER,  with 
eight  original  full-page  Plates.  Cloth,  extra  gilt.  Gilt 
edges.  2d  Edition.  i2mo.  $1.25. 

"They  have  stood  a  practical  ordeal,  and  stood  it  triumphantly."  — 
Times. 

GASKOIN  (Mrs.  H.).  Children's  Treasury  of  Bible  Stories. 
Edited  by  the  Rev.  G.  F.  MACLEAR,  D.D.  i8mo.  Each, 
30  cents. 

Part  I.   Old  Testament. 
II.   New  Testament. 
III.   Three  Apostles :  St.  James,  St.  Paul,  St.  John. 

GATTY  (Mrs.).    Parables  from  Nature.    With  Illustrations  by 

BURNE-JONES,     HOLMAN    HUNT,     TENNIEL,    WOLF,    and 

others.     Two  Series.     Each,  35  cents. 

GOLDEN  TREASURY  SERIES.  Uniformly  printed  in  i8mo, 
with  Vignette  Titles  by  J.  E.  MILLAIS,  Sir  NOEL  PATON, 
T.  WOOLNER,  W.  HOLMAN  HUNT,  ARTHUR  HUGHES,  etc. 
Engraved  on  Steel.  i8mo.  Cloth.  Each,  $1.00. 

Also  bound  in  half  morocco,  $2.50. 

Half  calf,  $2.50.     Padded  calf,  $3.00. 

Or  beautifully  bound  in  full  morocco,  padded,  solid  gilt  edges, 
in  boxes,  $2.50. 

The  Children's  Garland  from  the  Best  Poets.  Selected  and 
arranged  by  COVENTRY  PATMORE,  with  a  Vignette  by 
T.  WOOLNER. 

"  Mr.  Patmore  deserves  our  gratitude  for  having  searched  through  the 
wide  field  of  English  Poetry  for  these  flowers  which  youth  and  age  can 
equally  enjoy,  and  woven  them  into  '  The  Children's  Garland.'  "  —  London 
Review. 

The  Pilgrim's  Progress,  from  this  World  to  that  which  is 
to  come.  By  JOHN  BUNYAN,  with  a  Vignette  by  W. 
HOLMAN  HUNT. 

"  A  beautiful  and  scholarly  reprint."  —  Spectator. 


10  MACMILLAN  S-    CO.'S 

The  Fairy  Book.  The  best  popular  Fairy  Tales.  Selected 
and  rendered  anew  by  the  Author  of  "  John  Halifax,  Gen- 
tleman," with  a  Vignette  by  Sir  NOEL  PATON. 

"  Miss  Mujock  has  the  true  instinct  into  the  secret  of  a  perfect  Fairy 
Tale.  .  .  .  delightful  selection  in  a  delightful  external  form."  —  Spectator. 

The  Adventures  of  Robinson  Crusoe.  Edited  by  J.  W. 
CLARK,  M.A.,  with  a  Vignette  by  Sir  J.  E.  MILLAIS. 

"  This  cheap  and  pretty  copy,  rigidly  exact  to  the  original,  will  be  a 
prize  to  many  book  buyers."  —  Examiner. 

The  Sunday  Book  of  Poetry  for  the  Young.  Selected  and 
arranged  by  C.  F.  ALEXANDER. 

A  Book  of  Golden  Deeds  of  All  Times  and  All  Countries. 
Gathered  and  Narrated  Anew.  By  the  Author  of  "The 
Heir  of  Redclyflfe." 

Children's  Treasury  of  English  Song.  Edited  by  F.  T. 
PALGRAVE. 

Tom  Brown's  School  Days.    By  an  OLD  BOY. 

Lamb's  Tales  from  Shakespeare.  Edited  by  the  Rev.  A. 
AINGER. 

GOLDSMITH.  The  Vicar  of  Wakefield.  By  OLIVER  GOLD- 
SMITH. With  182  Illustrations  by  HUGH  THOMSON,  and 
a  Preface  by  AUSTIN  DOBSON.  Uniform  with  the  Ran- 
dolph Caldecott  Edition  of  Washington  Irving's  "  Brace- 
bridge  Hall "  and  "  Old  Christmas."  I2mo.  Cloth  extra. 
$2.00. 

"  Mr.  Thomson  hits  the  exact  line  of  humor  which  lies  in  Goldsmith's 
creations.  His  work  is  refined,  much  of  it  graceful  and  dignified,  but  the 
humor  of  the  situation  never  escapes  him.  The  work  is  English  line  work, 
very  beautiful,  delicate,  and  effective,  with  a  very  perceptible  touch  of  old- 
time  quality,  life,  and  costume  in  it.  The  volume  itself  is  such  as  lovers  of 
good  books  delight  to  hold,  in  their  hands."  —  Independent. 

"  A  more  bewitching  bit  of  book  work  has  not  reached  us  for  many  a 
day."  —  New  York  Tribune. 


GREENWOOD.    The  Moon  Maiden,  and  Other  Stories.    By 
JESSY  E.  GREENWOOD.     i2mo.    $1.25. 

in  which 

„  .  „  Chris- 

tian Union. 


"  A  collection  of  brightly  written  and  distinctly  original  stories  in 
fairy  lore  and  moral  allegory  are  deftly  and  pleasantly  mingled."  — 


GRIMM'S  Fairy  Tales.  The  Household  Stories.  Translated 
by  LUCY  CRANE,  and  done  into  pictures  by  WALTER 
CRANE.  I2mo.  $1.25. 


BOOKS  FOR  THE  YOUNG.  11 

HALLWARD  (R.  F.).  Flowers  of  Paradise.  Music  — Verse  — 
Design  —  Illustration.  Printed  in  colors  by  Edmund 
Evans.  Royal  4to.  $2.00. 

"  To  our  mind  one  of  the  prettiest  —  if  not  the  prettiest  —  of  this  year's 
picture  books.  The  pages  are  very  Blake-like  in  effect,  the  drawings  har- 
moniously blending  with  the  music  and  words,  and  some  of  the  larger  pic- 
tures are  quite  beautiful  in  thought  and  feeling  as  well  as  in  coloring.  We 
ought  soon  to  hear  of  Mr.  Hallward  again  ;  he  shows  much  promise."  — 
Pall  Mall  Gazette. 

HUGHES.    WORKS  BY  THOMAS  HUGHES. 

Tom  Brown's  School  Days.    New  Illustrated  Edition.    I2mo. 

Cloth.     Gilt.     $1.00    Pocket  Edition,  50  cents.     English 

Edition,  $1.25. 
"  The  most  famous  boy's  book  in  the  language."  —  Daily  News. 

Golden  Treasury  Edition.     i8mo.     fi.oo. 

Cheap   Edition.     With   58   Illustrations  by  ARTHUR 
HUGHES  and  S.  P.  HALL.     8vo.     Paper.     25  cents. 

Tom  Brown  at  Oxford.     New  Illustrated  Edition.     i2mo. 
Cloth.     Gilt.     $1.50.     English  Edition.     i2mo.     $1.25. 
"  In  no  other  work  that  we  can  call  to  mind  are  the  finer  qualities  of  the 
English  gentleman  more  happily  portrayed."  —  Daily  News. 
"  A  book  of  great  power  and  truth."  —  National  Review. 

HULLAH  (M.  A.).  Hannah  Tame.  A  Story  for  Girls.  With 
Illustrations.  i6mo.  $1.25. 

KEARY.    WORKS  BY  A.  AND  E.  KEARY. 

The  Heroes  of  Asgard.    Tales  from  Scandinavian  Mythology. 
Illustrated.     i6mo.     $1.00. 

The  Magic  Valley ;  or,  Patient  Antoine.    With  Illustrations. 
i6mo.     $1.25. 

KINGSLEY.    WORKS  BY  CHARLES  KINGSLEY. 

Madam  How  and  Lady  Why :  First  Lessons  in  Earth  Lore 
for  Children .    $  i .  oo . 
English  Edition,  $1.25. 

The  Heroes ;  or,  Greek  Fairy  Tales  for  My  Children.    With 

Illustrations.     $1.00. 

English  Edition.     I2mo.     $1.25. 

"  This  lovely  version  of  three  of  the  most  famous  folk  stories  of  the  old 
Greeks."  — Mail  and  Express. 

"  Ought  to  be  in  the  hands  of  every  child  in  the  country."  —  Christian 
Union, 


12  MACMILLAN  6-    CO.'S 

The  Water-Babies :  A  Fairy  Tale  for  a  Land  Baby.     Illus- 
trated.    I2mo.     $1.00. 
English  Edition.     i2mo.     $1.25. 

"  They  have  included  the  admirable  series  of  100  illustrations  by  Mr. 
Linley  Sambourne,  which  have  hitherto  only  been  procurable  in  the  some- 
what expensive  Christmas  edition  of  1885.  It  is  pleasing  to  think  that  Sir 
Richard  Owen  and  Mr.  Huxley  both  survive  to  occupy  the  same  position 
in  the  world  of  science,  which  the  author  assigned  to  them  more  than  a 
quarter  of  a  century  ago.  The  artist's  portrait  of  the  two  professors  on 
page  69  is  a  masterpiece."  —  Academy. 

"  They  are  simply  inimitable,  and  will  delight  boys  and  girls  of  mature 
age,  as  well  as  their  juniors.  No  happier  combination  of  author  and  artist 
than  this  volume  presents  could  be  found  to  furnish  healthy  amusement  to 
the  young  folks.  The  book  is  an  artistic  one  in  every  sense."  —  Toronto 
Mail. 

Glaucus ;  or,  The  Wonders  of  the  Seashore.  With  Coloured 
Illustrations.  $2.00. 

LAMB.  Tales  from  Shakespeare.  Edited,  with  Preface,  by 
the  Rev.  A.  AINGER,  M.A.  Golden  Treasury  Series. 
i8mo.  $1.00. 

MACMILLAN.  The  Gate  Beautiful.  Bible  Teachings  for  the 
Young.  By  the  Rev.  HUGH  MACMILLAN,  author  of 
"  Bible  Teachings  from  Nature."  Shortly. 

MADAME  TABBY'S  ESTABLISHMENT.  By  KARI.  Illus- 
trated. $1.25. 

MARRYAT'S  (Captain)  BOOKS  FOR  BOYS.  Uniformly 
bound  in  blue  cloth.  8  vols.  Large.  i6mo.  $1.00 
each. 

Masterman  Ready;  or,  The  Wreck  of  the  Pacific.  With 
93  Engravings  on  Wood.  $1.00. 

Poor  Jack.    With  1 6  Illustrations.    22d  Edition.    $1.00. 

The  Mission;  or,  Scenes  in  Africa.  With  Illustrations  by 
JOHN  GILBERT.  $1.00. 

•.      The  Settlers  in  Canada.    With  Illustrations  by  GILBERT 
and  DALZIEL.     $1.00. 

The  Privateersman.  Adventures  by  Sea  and  Land  in  Civil 
and  Savage  Life,  One  Hundred  Years  Ago.  With  eight 
Engravings.  $1.00. 

The  Pirate,  and  the  Three  Cutters.  Illustrated  with  eight 
Engravings.  With  a  Memoir  of  the  Author.  $1.00. 


BOOKS  FOR  THE  YOUNG.  13 

Peter  Simple.    With  eight  Full-page  Illustrations.    $1.00. 
Midshipman  Easy.     With  eight  Illustrations.     $1.00. 

MARSHALL.  Winif rede's  Journal.  By  Mrs.  EMMA  MAR- 
SHALL, author  of  "Life's  Aftermath,"  "Mrs.  Willough- 
by's  Octave,"  etc.  With  Illustrations.  i2mo.  Shortly. 

MOLESWORTH.  WORKS  BY  MRS.  MOLESWORTH  (ENNIS 
GRAHAM).  With  Illustrations  by  WALTER  CRANE.  i6mo. 
Uniformly  bound.  $1.00  each  volume. 

Herr  Baby. 

Grandmother  Dear. 

Tell  Me  a  Story. 

The  Cuckoo  Clock. 

The  Tapestry  Room.    A  Child's  Romance. 

A  Christmas  Child :  A  Sketch  of  a  Boy-Life. 

Rosy. 

Two  Little  Waifs. 

Christmas-Tree  Land. 

"  Carrots,"  Just  a  Little  Boy. 

"  Us :  "  An  Old-fashioned  Story. 

Four  Winds  Farm. 

Little  Miss  Peggy.    Only  a  Nursery  Story. 

A  Christmas  Posy. 

The  Rectory  Children. 

The  Children  of  the  Castle. 

Nurse  Heatherdale's  Story.    With  Illustrations  by  L.  LESLIE 
BROOKE.    $1.25. 

"There  is  no  more  acceptable  writer  for  children  than  Mrs.  Moles- 
worth."  —  Literary  World. 

"  No  English  writer  of  .stories  for  children  has  a  better  reputation  than 
Mrs.  Molesworth,  and  none  whose  stories  we  are  familiar  with  deserves  it 
better."  — New  York  Mail  and  Express. 

"  Mistress  of  the  art  of  writing  for  children."  —  Spectator. 

NOEL.  Wandering  Willie.  By  Lady  AUGUSTA  NOEL.  Globe 
8vo.  $1.00. 

OLIPHANT.  Agnes  Hopetown's  School  and  Holidays.  By 
Mrs.  OLIPHANT.  With  Illustrations.  i6mo.  $1.00. 


14  MACMILLAN  &>   CO.'S 

PATMORE  (C.) .    The  Children's  Garland  from  the  Best  Poets. 
Selected.     Golden  Treasury  Series \     i8mo.     $1.00. 

PROCTER  (A.  A.).  Legends  and  Lyrics.  By  ADELAIDE 
ANNE  PROCTER.  Original  Edition.  First  Series.  With 
Introduction  by  CHARLES  DICKENS.  67th  Thousand. 
Second  Series.  59th  Thousand.  2  vols.  75  cents  each. 
Also  an  Edition.  4to.  2  Series.  35  cents  each. 
Legends  and  Lyrics.  New  edition  in  one  vol.  With  new 
Portrait  etched  by  C.  O.  MURRAY,  from  a  painting  by 
E.  Gaggiotti  Richards.  i6th  Thousand.  Large  121110. 
Cloth,  gilt  edges,  $1.00. 

RUNAWAY   (THE).     By  the   author  of  "Mrs.  Jerningham's 
Journal."     $1.00. 

RUTH  and  Her  Friends.    A  Story  for  Girls.    With  Illustrations. 

$1.00. 

St.  JOHNSON.     Charlie  Asgarde.    A  Tale  of  Adventure.    By 
ALFRED  ST.  JOHNSON.    With  Illustrations.    $1.50. 

"  Will  not  prevent  boys  from  reading  it  with  keen  interest.  The  inci- 
dents of  savage  life  are  described  from  the  author's  personal  experience, 
and  the  book  is  so  well  written  that  we  may  reasonably  hope  for  something 
of  much  higher  quality  from  Mr.  Johnson's  pen."  —  Academy. 

"  Whoever  likes  Robinson  Crusoe  —  and  who  does  not  like  it  ?  —  is 
pretty  sure  to  like  '  Charlie  Asgarde.'  "  —  N.  Y.  Mail  and  Express. 

"  The  story  is  spirited  and  interesting,  full  of  exciting  incidents  and 
situations."  —  Boston  Saturday  Evening  Gazette. 

SPENSER.    Tales  chosen  from  the  Fairie  Queene.    By  SOPHIA 
H.  MACLEHOSE.     $1.25. 

STEPHENSON.    WORKS  BY  MRS.  J.  STEPHENSON. 
Nine  Years  Old.    With  Illustrations.    i6mo.    $1.00. 
Pansie's  Flour  Bin.    Illustrated.    $1.00. 
When  I  was  a  Little  Girl.    Illustrated.    i6mo.    $1.00. 

When  Papa  conies  Home.    The  Story  of  Tip,  Tap,  Toe. 

Illustrated.    $1.25. 

STEWART.   The  Tale  of  Troy.   Done  into  English  by  AUBREY 
STEWART.     i6mo.    $1.00. 

"  We  are  much  pleased  with  '  The  Tale  of  Troy,'  by  Aubrey  Stewart, 
.  .  .  The  Homeric  legend  is  given  in  strong,  simple,  melodious  English, 
which  sometimes  leaves  one  in  doubt  as  to  the  distinction  between  poetry 
and  prose.  . . .  While  the  story  delights  them,  it  will  ennoble  and  strengthen 
their  minds,  and  the  form  in  which  it  is  rendered  will  teach  them  that  love, 
which,  for  an  American,  should  lie  deep  in  his  heart,  —  the  love  of  good 
English."  —  Independent, 


BOOKS  FOR  THE  YOUNG.  15 


TIM.    A  Story  of  School  Life.     i2mo.     Cloth.    $1.00. 

WARD.  A  Pair  of  Originals.  By  E.  WARD,  Author  of  "Fresh 
from  the  Fens."  With  Illustrations.  I2mo.  $1.25. 

WARD.  Milly  and  Oily;  or,  A  Holiday  among  the  Moun- 
tains. BY  Mrs.  HUMPHRY  WARD.  Illustrated  by  Mrs. 
ALMA-TADEMA.  i6mo.  $1.00. 

WHITE  (GILBERT).  Natural  History  and  Antiquities  of  Sel- 
borne.  New  Edition,  with  a  Poem  and  Letters  never 
before  Published.  Edited  by  FRANK  BUCKLAND.  With 
Illustrations.  $1.75. 

WILLOUGHBY.  Fairy  Guardians.  By  F.  WILLOUGHBY.  Illus- 
trated. $1.25. 

WILSON.  The  Five  Gateways  of  Knowledge.  By  GEORGE 
WILSON,  M.D.,  F.R.S.E.  i6mo.  Cloth.  50  cents. 

YONGE.  WORKS  OF  CHARLOTTE  M.  YONGE.  Uniform  Edition 
of  the  Tales.  I2mo.  Cloth.  $i.ooeach. 

The  Heir  of  Redclyffe.    Illustrated. 

Heartsease ;  or,  The  Brother's  Wife.    Illustrated. 

Hopes  and  Fears.     Illustrated. 

Dynevor  Terrace.    Illustrated.  . 

The  Daisy  Chain.     Illustrated. 

The  Trial :  More  Links  of  the  Daisy  Chain.    Illustrated. 

Pillars  of  the  House  ;  or,  Under  Wode  Under  Rode.    2  vols. 

Illustrated. 

The  Young  Stepmother.    Illustrated. 

The  Clever  Woman  of  the  Family.    Illustrated. 

The  Three  Brides.     Illustrated. 

My  Young  Alcides.     Illustrated. 

The  Caged  Lion.    Illustrated. 

The  Dove  in  the  Eagle's  Nest.    Illustrated. 

The  Chaplet  of  Pearls.    Illustrated. 

Lady  Hester,  and  the  Danvers  Papers.    Illustrated. 

Magnum  Bonum.    Illustrated. 

Love  and  Life.    Illustrated. 


16      MA  CM  ILL  AN  &>  CO.'S  BOOKS  FOX  TffE  YOUNG. 

Unknown  to  History.  A  Story  of  the  Captivity  of  Mary  of 
Scotland. 

Stray  Pearls.  Memoirs  of  Margaret  de  Ribaumont,  Vis- 
countess of  Belaise. 

The  Armourer's  'Prentices. 

The  Two  Sides  of  the  Shield. 

Nuttie's  Father. 

Scenes  and  Characters  ;  or,  Eighteen  Months  at  Beechcroft. 

Chantry  House. 

A  Modern  Telemachus. 

Beechcroft  at  Rockstone. 

Womankind.    A  Book  for  Mothers  and  Daughters. 

A  Reputed  Changeling ;  or,  Three  Seventh  Years,  Two  Cen- 
turies Ago. 

The  Two  Penniless  Princesses.  A  Story  of  the  Time  of 
James  I.  of  Scotland. 

That  Stick.    Shortly. 

The  Population  of  an  Old  Pear  Tree ;  or,  Stories  of  Insect 
Life.  From  the  French  of  E.  Van  Bruysel.  With  Illus- 
trations. New  Edition.  i6mo.  $1.00. 

A  Book  of  Worthies :  Gathered  from  the  Old  Histories  and 
Written  Anew.  Golden  Treasury  Series.  i8mo.  $ i.oo. 

The  Story  of  the  Christians  and  Moors  in  Spain.  With 
Vignette.  Golden  Treasury  Series .  i8mo.  $1.00. 

The  Prince  and  the  Page :  A  Tale  of  the  Last  Crusade. 

Illustrated.     New  Edition.     Globe  8vo.     $1.00. 

P's  and  Q's ;  or,  The  Question  of  Putting  Upon.  With 
Illustrations.  Globe  8vo.  $1.00. 

The  Lances  of  Lynwood.    With  Illustrations.    Globe  8vo. 

$1.00. 

Little  Lucy's  Wonderful  Globe.  With  Illustrations.  Globe 
8vo.  $1.00. 

The  Little  Duke.    With  Illustrations.     Globe  8vo.    $1.00. 

A  Storehouse  of  Stories.  Edited  by  C.  M.  YONGE.  Series 
I  and  2.  i6mo.  Each,  $1.00. 


MACMILLAN  &  CO., 

112  FOURTH  AVENUE,  NEW  YORK. 


BY  THE  REV.  ALFRED  J.  CHURCH. 


THE  STORY  OF  THE  ILIAD. 

With  Coloured  Illustrations  after  FLAXMAN. 
I2mo.      $1.00. 


THE   STORY  OF   THE  ODYSSEY. 

With  Coloured  Illustrations  after  FLAXMAN. 
I2mo.      $1.00. 


STORIES   FROM   THE  BIBLE. 

With  Illustrations  after  JULIUS  SCHNORR. 
i2mo.     $1.50. 

"Of  all  the  books  of  this  kind,  this  is  the  best  we  have  seen."  — 
Examiner. 

"  The  book  will  be  of  infinite  value  to  the  student  or  teacher  of  the 
Scriptures,  and  the  stories  are  well  arranged  for  interesting  reading  for 
children." — Boston  Traveller. 


STORIES   FROM  THE  BIBLE.     (Second  Series.) 

With  Illustrations. 


THE   GREEK  GULLIVER.     Stories  from  Lucian. 

With  Illustrations  by  C.  O.  MURRAY. 

New  Edition.     i6mo.     Paper.     40  cents. 

"  A  curious  example  of  ancient  humor."  —  Chicago  Standard. 


THE   BURNING  OF   ROME.     A  Story  of  the  Days 
of  Nero. 

With  numerous  Illustrations. 
I2mo.    Cloth  extra.    $1.00. 


MACMILLAN   &  CO., 

112  FOURTH  AVENUE,  NEW  YORK. 


n   0 


"•';•"'•  '••'':      .-''       "  "     ';'•        ''    :      - 

-•••:-\.'~:"'.':]-^;m^.:'; 

;        .  •     .          ,      •• ;  I  •<-;••  -/.-  m  . 


•PffSoK      •  -  -1.          •     '••:-'.•• 


